KELLY FACES ULTIMATE TEST

ADAM KELLY is giving a guest lecture at a Canadian university this week – but first he’s aiming to help write Taunton Town history.

The Southern League South & West Peacocks take on Barrow in only their second FA Cup first round appearance – 35 years after the last time.

Kelly is doing a PhD at the University of Exeter and tomorrow morning jets out to Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

“I was supposed to be going to Canada on the Sunday but luckily I didn’t book my flight,” he told

The NLP. “It’s surrounding my research on talent ID and development in elite youth football. I’ve been using a multi-disciplinary approach to identify factors that discriminate high and low performance in the Academy.

“We can help identify those and use different programmes to help the low performers push on.”

The former Salisbury City and Weymouth attacker is also Head of Sports Science at Exeter City.

And it’s hit home how well his team-mates have done to get this far in the competition.

“I was looking out of the window at Exeter’s training ground this week watching the first team prepare for their first round game against Luton,” he said.

“It’s quite nice to reach the same stage my employers come into the FA Cup. A lot of the lads’ families are coming to watch. It’s a sell-out crowd so it’s a good moment for everyone.”

Leigh Robinson’s side have already beaten higher opposition in National League South duo Hampton & Richmond Borough and Hemel Hempstead.

But with experienced players like Kelly, former Truro captain Shane White and ex-Weymouth defender Ed Palmer they are capable of upsetting the National League promotion hopefuls.

“We’ve got a great atmosphere in the changing room and the lads fully deserve to have got this far,” Kelly added.