The wet weather had an impact again this weekend with games involving Yeovil Town loanees at Welton Rovers and Shepton Mallet falling foul of the weather.
Therefore, we begin at Dorchester Town where Ollie Haste is the lone loanee following the departure of Benjani Junior – and the central defender was a goal-scoring hero.
And, no, it wasn’t a header from a corner, it was a curling shot in to the far corner of the net to put the Magpies 2-0 up in the 18th minute of a 4-1 home win over Basingstoke Town in the Southern League Premier Division South.
Picture courtesy of Phillip Standfield.
Going a tier down – that’s two below National League South, if you were wondering – Benjani Junior played the full 90 minutes for Melksham Town in a 3-2 defeat against Cribbs Causeway.
Now we go up to National League South and Taunton Town where Malachi Linton made his first league start since returning from injury.
The striker played the first 56 minutes of a 1-0 defeat at Hemel Hempstead Town (where have we heard that scoreline before?!) with the goal coming late in the second half.
Finally, Will Buse put in a performance which was the most significant for the Yeovil first team, keeping a clean sheet in a 3-0 home win for Bath City over Aveley, enabling the Glovers to open up a six-point lead at the top of National League South.
There were starting places for Under-18s striker Josh Haskett and midfielder Jack Bareham in Gillingham Town’s 1-0 home win over Hengrove Athletic with Harrison Foster and Harry Lock both named on the substitutes’ bench for the Western League Division One fixture.
The Gills started well and went 1-0 up in the first before going down to ten men. Haskett was named the sponsors’ Man of the Match.
So, alongside the Welton contingent, Charlie Bateson at Shepton, there was no Aidan Skiverton in the Sherborne Town line-up and at Tiverton Town there is a new loan keeper in Plymouth Argyle youngster Zak Baker. So, we assume Lewis Williams has left and, with no appearance on the bench despite the lack of a back-up keeper for the first team……well, you finish that sentence.
Tiverton have made a few changes recently – the chairman (Michael Dunford) has stepped down, the club have a new manager (Leigh Robinson), and the manager has brought in 4 new players, including a young goalkeeper (Zac Baker) on loan. It appears that Lewis Williams doesn’t fit into the new manager’s plans as Williams hasn’t played since the new manager arrived. Presumably the new ‘keeper was brought in to stop the team conceding goals – 18 games without a clean sheet, apparently.
Last Tuesday (7.11.23) Tiverton had U18 keeper Ollie Saunders in goal. Saunders played for Exeter City U18s yesterday against Portsmouth U18s.
I assume Lewis Williams will come back to Yeovil and be available as a back-up ‘keeper while Will Buse is on loan at Taunton.