Familiar foes to meet in FA Vase Devon Derby

BUCKLAND Athletic and Tavistock will be keeping a close eye on the weather in the hope that their FA Vase third round clash at Homers Heath goes ahead this afternoon, writes Stuart James.

A big crowd is expected for the clash between the two Western League Premier Division rivals, who have already faced each other twice in league action this campaign.

In just the second game of the season, the two teams drew 1-1 at Langsford Park before Buckland were silenced by the Lambs, who ran out 5-1 winners in the return game in Newton Abbot in October.

Assistant manager Ken Ord takes charge of Tavistock again, with Stuart Henderson on holiday, and he says a repeat performance would do him just fine – if the pitch withstands the forecast heavy rain, that is.

“You look at Bitten, who are in our league, and see how successful they were, and how successful Parkway were and we feel that we can replicate at least what they did and on our day, we feel we are as good as anyone,” Ord said. “And we do love a Cup run.”

In Cup competitions, you often want a different challenge but with this being the third game between the two clubs this season, there is little they don’t know about each other.

“We know what we are in for, that’s for sure,” Ord said. “It’s a bit of a double-edged sword because we know what to expect from them and they know what to expect from us. Therefore, I think it will be quite a tight game.

“I suppose the disappointment is that it’s a Cup game and there isn’t really anything new. They knocked us out of the Vase last year and again, it was nothing new. We had turned them over in the league and then they put us out the Vase and I would have preferred to have drawn someone different.

“The good thing is we don’t have to spend ten hours on a bus!

“But we know what we are in for, we know what they are capable of and similarly, them of us. They are normally tight games and even the league game (at Buckland) earlier this year was 1-1 until the last 10 minutes or so.”

Bucks boss Paul Froude said: “We know all about each other – us and Tavistock – so it’s a tough one, but it is one that the lads and everyone here are really looking forward to.

“We know the further we get in the competition, the stronger the teams get.”