EVO-STIK South West league leaders Taunton Town have added experienced defender Keith Emmerson to their squad ahead of this weekend's trip to Barnstaple Town.

The 34-year-old has joined from Southern League Premier side Farnborough and has also represented Poole Town and Sherborne Town across his career.

Taunton go into Saturday's match off the back of a 1-0 midweek win at Mangotsfield United, secured courtesy of Dan Sullivan's 12th goal of the season.

Peacocks boss Leigh Robinson told the County Gazette after that game: “We just had to concentrate, after a couple of slips on Saturday.

“And we had to really apply ourselves, as it was a tricky Tuesday night game against a side looking for a reaction after a heavy loss on Saturday [4-0 against basement side Bishops Cleeve].

“We came out with a 1-0, but missed a few chances; it was a gritty three points.”

The match marked Ross Staley’s farewell, as the wing-back/attacking midfielder departs for eight months of playing and coaching in Australia next week.

Robinson paid tribute to Staley, saying: “He’s done very well here.

“Ross is a very good footballer, a languid left-footer who has scored goals at important times for us.

“He’s known [about the departure] for about a month, and many players would down tools, but he’s applied himself and scored a hat-trick against Totton [on January 6].

“We’d certainly welcome him back.”

Looking ahead to this Saturday, the table-toppers face another game away at one of the league’s strugglers, 21st-placed Barnstaple Town (ko 3pm).

The Peacocks won the reverse fixture 3-0 last month, thanks to goals from Sullivan, Ryan Brett and Matt Buse.

They welcome back Buse and Shane White for the trip to Devon, but will be without Brett Trowbridge after he picked up an injury on Tuesday, and the club are waiting to see how long he will be out for.

On Town's next opponents, Robinson said: “Barnstaple are another team to be aware of, as they’ve shown that they can raise their game for the big occasion.

“They did that against Bideford on Boxing Day [drawing 1-1].

“Anyone in the league can hurt us, as Shortwood showed, so there’ll be no complacency from us.”