Zamaretto Southern League Division 1 SW

Taunton Town 0, Tiverton Town 0

THE two Towns negated each other in this turgid stalemate almost devoid of goalmouth action.

For the first time since the FA Vase semi-final first leg in 1999, Taunton went into a home game against their old rivals as clear favourites.

There was not a single effort on target until three minutes before the interval when visiting captain James Richards hit a speculative free-kick from 30 yards, pushed behind by Joe Perry.

With sporadic raids down the right, only Jamie Short carried a threat for Taunton, but he could not achieve any link-up with fellow front runners Nat Pepperell, Rodney Marsh and Joe Bushin.

In a protracted eight minutes of stoppage time each team at last had one decent chance, but the spoils remained shared.

Zamaretto Southern League Division 1 S&W

Tiverton Town 2, Bashley 1

STRUGGLING Bashley, fielding three 16-year-olds, pushed Tiverton all the way before falling to their fourth defeat of the season.

Tivvy took the lead on 26 minutes when full-back Jake Wannell beat a couple of players and his shot was saved by Maher, but somehow he managed to scramble the rebound over the line.

Thirteen minutes later, Tivvy scored again, the impressive James Richards crossing for the unmarked Owen Howe to nod home.

Before half-time, Bashley scored a breakaway goal, Ryan Brading releasing a perfect pass for Shivan Roushbaiani to beat Chris Wright.

Both sides could have scored after the break, but Tivvy sub Jess Howe went closest, clipping the bar.