Wednesday 7th February 2024, Kick-off 19.30
Southern League Southern Division
Silver Street, Willand
Admission: £20.00
Programme: Online only
Attendance: 169
For the second evening during my business trip to the West Country, I had originally planned to take in a visit to Plymouth Parkway's Bolitho Park, which would have enabled me to complete the National League South. However, that game was postponed a day in advance, and as it turned out, Truro City were terminating their agreement to play their home games there, moving to Taunton Town's with immediate effect. That would have been quite a drive anyway, so it was probably for the best that I went to this game at Willand Rovers, a much easier option that was just a ten minute drive away from the hotel where I was staying, for what would be my first ever non league game in Devon.
Silver Street is located in the centre of the village of Willand, a couple of miles east of the M5, and descorative gates as well as plenty of signage greet visitors right by the passing road. Admission is gained through a metallic turnstile block in one corner of the ground, and programmes are only available to download via multiple QR code reading points dotted around the ground. The length and end closest to the entrance offers hard standing only, with the length doubling up as a tarmac path for players and officals to drive their car along to reach the small car park beyond the other end..Along the opposite length, there are four stands in total. The larger all seater stand straddles the half way line, to one side in a smaller metallic all seater stand, while to the other side are two small covered terraces. The clubhouse building is located behind the remaining end, with a fairly spacious clubhouse inside, a tea bar window to the front, and with plenty of overhang covering a standing area pitchside. A cream coloured portakabin is located the other side of the goal, which serves as the changing rooms.
A glance at the league table suggested that this would be an even game between two closely matched clubs. Willand Rovers were in eleventh place, following nine wins and three draws from their 21 league games, while Yate Town were in sixth place, following nine wins and six draws from their 24 league games. That doesn't tell the full story though, as Yate Town were in excellent form, unbeaten in their last eight games since the turn of the year, and had won all of their last six league games.
A match report from Yate’s perspective can be read by clicking here or from Willand’s perspective by clicking here , also copied and pasted below.
From Yate's perspective...
MATCH REPORT
Willand Rovers 2 – Howe 4, Edwards 60
Yate Town 2 – McCootie 16, 30
Yate Town gained a hard-fought point in a game that was played in worsening weather conditions and maintained their unbeaten record in 2024 but their winning sequence of 6 games came to an end.
Yate manager Darren Mullings kept the same starting eleven from Saturday, and Yate started sluggishly and a mistake in the 4th minute when Ollie Jenkins lost possession led to Willand taking an early lead through Owen Howe.
There followed a period of play when Willand had a couple of good chances to extend their lead which were not taken and then Yate Town started to respond to the challenge of finding themselves behind for the first time this year. Following a driving run into the penalty area by full-back James Taylor in the 16th minute, he supplied the cross cum shot for Nick McCootie to score his eighth goal of the season.
Dylan Lewis then had a shot well saved by home goalkeeper George Burton which went for a corner. Then with the rain falling heavily Jenkins again found himself in a good position but his cross was too strong, and the attack broke down as Yate Town dominated. English-Brown was denied by Burton when one on one with the goalkeeper.
Then off a Yate mistake, Willand had another good chance, but Toby Raison blocked the shot and managed to clear the danger before Yate Town took the lead in the 30th minute. A cross was fielded by Aaron Sainsbury who quickly released the ball forward, this was headed down to Joe Guest who played the ball square to Finley Bell who slid in Dylan Lewis along the left and his first time cross found Nick McCootie to side foot home his second goal of the game.
In an eventful final few minutes of the first half, Willand hit the crossbar from a corner and Jenkins should have scored a third for Yate. Jenkins found himself clear 10 yards from goal, and with only a defender on the line, who he manged to hit, and the shot was cleared.
With the rain pouring down Willand started the second half on the front foot and following a mistake by Ewan McMillan Yate goalkeeper Aron Sainsbury saved well to keep the Bluebells lead intact. Sainsbury made another good save from a long range shot which went for a corner and on 60 minutes the home side drew level when from another Willand corner, a near post flick on was headed home at the far post by Ross Edwards.
McCootie then had an immediate chance to restore Yate’s lead but dragged his shot wide, this being the last opportunity Yate created as Willand continued to dominate the play and looked the more likely side to score. Sainsbury made another good save from Willand shot and the home side had two further long-range efforts narrowly miss.
The game became a little scrappy towards the end with more misplaced passes as the conditions deteriorated. Willand’s Joshia Ford was then sent off in stoppage time for a second bookable offence.
Yate deserved their point for their first half display, but Willand proved worthy opponents on the night. Their direct style and prowess at free kicks and corners was a constant threat to Yate who will know what to expect come the return fixture in April. The 2-2 final score line was a fair reflection of the game and a good watch for the neutrals in the crowd.
Yate Town: Sainsbury, Taylor, Byrne, McMillan, Raison, Guest, Bell, Jenkins (Ball 81), English-Brown (L. Hall 57), McCootie, Lewis
Unused subs: Dempsey, Murgatroyd, Mullings
Bookings: Taylor (51) Guest (89)
Willand Rovers: Burton, Searle, Guppy, Ford, Edwards, Moyse, Moulden, Hewitt, Howe, Baker (Wright 50), Camilo (Duff-Dick)
Unused subs: Laird, Byrne
Referee: Dan Fizzell
Attendance: 169
Match Report
Willand Vs Yate
“Rules are not necessarily sacred; principles are.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Imagine a world where the only rule is that there are no rules. At first glance, it seems like a utopia that I could get behind. No requirement to work for money? I’m in. Don’t like the house that you live in? I’m cuckooing that new house being built by Parkway. Need a holiday? Just jump on the next plane leaving Heathrow.
But reality would quickly hit, and hit like a prime Tyson (the original, not the imitator). Without rules, the A38 would quickly resemble a demolition derby, where the only way to win is not to play. Everyone would be playing musical chairs with all of their possessions, trying to reach the top of the egomaniacal mountain before inevitably being sacrificed at the altar of the next biggest thing.
Rules, as it turns out, are the unsung heroes that are keeping our society from devolving into a circus where the clowns are in charge (although some might argue that this has been the situation for the last 14 years).
But to muddy the waters further, it seems that even laws carry some kind of premium. If you appropriate funds from a bank account that doesn’t belong to you, you’ll quite possibly be spending time at his majesty’s pleasure, or if you’re fleeing violence and persecution and looking for refuge in a society that looks after the vulnerable, you might end up on his majesty’s pleasure boat.
But who amongst us doesn’t drive on the motorway at 75mph, or falsely claim millions of pounds for PPE, and then, when questioned, claim that the speed gun was wrongly calibrated, or that we, despite the actual facts, couldn’t quite remember how we afforded a yacht?
We all stretch and manoeuvre around the law, but there are two rules that should, in my opinion, carry a much higher sentence than mandatory life. Crimes so heinous that the only appropriate punishment might be a season ticket to the Brittania Stadium or the job of groundskeeper at Taunton for the rest of the season.
The first, which I encounter on a regular basis, has very little to do with this match report (not that this ever seems to hinder inclusion), but there should be a special place in hell for people who feel the need to check their phones in the cinema.
The second is more relevant to this enterprise, that being the inability for people to realise that when you see yellow markings on the floor and more pertinently signs with the legend ‘No Standing’, you probably shouldn’t be standing there!
The markings and signs haven’t been put up for self-entertainment; if you’re standing by the home dugout, it means that people in the stands can’t see the entire pitch, which makes match reporting more guesswork than usual.
Fortunately, there was no distraction in team selection for Willand and David Steele will be pleased to have been able to field the same unit of players, albeit with some slight changes, over a number of games.
The opponents for tonight’s match, Yate Town, came into the game in impressive form, unbeaten in 2024 and with striker McCootie having scored in his last six outings.
But it was Willand who came out on the front foot, scoring the opener in the 4th minute. Moyes did well initially to pressure the keeper, who blocked his shot, with the ball rebounding to Howe, who was loitering somewhere around the second stand. The Willand captain took a moment to compose himself before he struck a sweet shot past the still prostate keeper.
Willand nearly increased the lead minutes later; a sublime ball through to Camilo left him charging the keeper unimpeded, but his attempt to find the top corner only found the netting behind the goal.
Yate quickly settled in and, truth be told, took over, and they found the equaliser in the 17th minute, a direct run at the Willand defence from Taylor resulting in an easy chance for McCootie, who slotted the ball past Burton.
Yate continued to push forward, and Burton prevented a complete reverse minutes later when he pushed a fierce shot around his post before Ford was booked for complaining after the referee blocked off a Willand defender, unintentionally assisting with a Yate attack.
It wasn’t all one-way traffic, with Camilo forcing a smart save out of Sainsbury before a Moulden shot was excellently blocked on route to goal.
The visitors made no mistake with their next chance though, McCootie finishing a smart move down the Willand right that really should have been stopped before the final cross was delivered.
Again, Willand pushed on, and after a long break waiting for a corner following a blood injury to Byrne, Willand almost pulled level, Ford flashing his header on to the bar before Howe missed the target with another header minutes later.
Willand were lucky not to go further behind before the break. McCootie skipping past the Willand defence again before crossing the ball to his strike partner, whose shot was somehow blocked before it could trouble the back of the net.
HT Willand 1 – Yate 2
The second half kicked off in biblical conditions, with the rain affecting both sets of players and those fans not fortunate enough to have brought umbrellas, and after a half in which the visitors were easily the better team, Willand made some early changes, with Wright and Duff-Dick replacing Baker and Camilo.
With the rain finally easing, Guppy hit a half-volley that caught everyone in the ground by surprise, with the notable exception of Sainsbury, who managed to claw it from the top corner.
From the subsequent corner, Willand found the equaliser; the ball flicked on at the front post, met emphatically by Edwards leap.
With Willand pushing for a winner, the block party continued. An errant header from the Yate defence fell to Wright, whose fancy footwork saw him skip past two players and around the keeper, only to see his shot deflected past the post by a sliding boot.
The game still had time for some additional drama, though. A Yate breakaway was stopped illegally, according to the referee, and (following the rules of the game), he had little choice but to show Ford his second card of the day.
In the end, it was a fair result in fairly terrible conditions. Yate dominated the first half, but Willand never capitulated, and the second half was a complete turn-around, with the home team never allowing the dangerous visitors to find any rhythm.
Full Time – Willand 2 – Yate 2
MOM Charlie Wright
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