After safely earning a place in the First Round of the Isuzu FA Trophy with the thrilling 2-1 win at Yate Town, we return to league action on Tuesday evening with a visit to Devon to take on Tiverton Town.

The Yellows were heavily involved in the relegation scrap at the end of last season but managed to pull themselves clear with a late run of good form. They finished in 17^th place just 1 point above the drop zone. They did the double over us, a 3-1 win at Ladysmead followed by a 1-0 win at the Black Gold.

They have fared little better this season so far with two wins, one at home 2-0 against Bracknell Town and the 3-1 away win at Dorchester Town from their opening 9 league fixtures. (P9 W2 D1 L6 7 points). Only Berkhamsted on 8, have scored fewer league goals to date and they have dropped to 21^st in the form table (P6 W1 D1 L4).

Their last match was the 4-2 defeat to Havant & Waterlooville in the FA Trophy last Saturday. The Yellows were trailing 2-0 after 26 minutes but pulled one back to go into half time 2-1 down. In a bit of a late frenzy the sides shared three goals ending with the 4-2 win for the home side.

The club is managed by Asa Hall who signed for Tiverton Town in June 2024 following his six-season stint with Torquay United and would become a vital part of a struggling Tiverton Town side. Following a good turnaround of results, Asa was offered the manager role at Tiverton permanently where he is assisted by Steve Orchard.

Leading scorer for The Yellows on 3 goals is Louis Jagger-Cane who re-signed for the club from Sidmouth at the start of the season. Louis left Tivvy to join Sidmouth 6 years ago and was voted their Players Player of the Year last season after scoring 29 goals and 14 assists.

With just the one league defeat from our opening 8 fixtures we go into the match in good form. We are sitting in 3^rd place in the form table (P6 W3 D3) and 7^th in the league (P8 W4 D3 L1 15 points). However, Ladysmead has not been a happy hunting ground for the Dolphins since the Covid crisis, we have lost all the four matches played in that time.

2021/22 Lost 0-1, 2022/23 Lost 2-1, 2023/24 Lost 4-2 and 2024/25 Lost 3-1.

Our winning goal at Yate on Saturday was scored by midfielder Antonio Diaz who signed for the Dolphins from Gosport Borough. The midfielder is not the first in his family to play for Poole Town, his dad Tony was a prolific goal-scorer for the Dolphins in the 90’s. The 25-year-old came through AFC Bournemouth’s academy and was part of a Cherries’ team that won the Youth Alliance Cup in 2017. After spells at Weymouth, Dorchester and Wimborne Town, Diaz joined Salisbury in 2020 and made 77 appearances, scoring nine goals.

He has played a vital role during his time at Poole so far, playing multiple different positions and performing admirably whenever featured emphasising his versatility and tireless effort displayed every time he steps foot on the pitch.

With our indifferent form at Ladysmead we will need a massive effort from everyone to turn around our fortunes there and come away with those much-needed points.

Enjoy the game.

Neil Wellington.