Exmouth Town start their Southern League Division One South campaign this Saturday, when they welcome Evesham United to their Circle of Care Community Stadium, kick-off 3.00pm, writes John Dibsdall.

Last season, Town won their home game 4-1 with goals from Aarron Denny, Jordan Harris, Levi Landricombe and an own goal but lost the reverse fixture 2- 0. Evesham went on to reach the play-offs but were beaten 3-0 at Hamworthy United.

Town will go into this match looking to bounce back from a disappointing defeat in the FA Cup going down 2-1 to Falmouth Town last Saturday. In strong winds, the home side adapted far better to the conditions and deserved their narrow victory.

With the wind behind them, Town started well and Ethan Slater turned home a cross from Callum Shipton with just three minutes on the clock. Despite continuing to press forward, they failed to create any further clear scoring opportunities, being restricted to long-range efforts that failed to really trouble the home defence.

Going into the half time break, you felt one goal may not be enough and so it proved. With Aarron Denny playing as a lone striker far too often, he was isolated and whilst he held the ball up well, he had no support from his colleagues and Town had only one effort from Mike Landricombe that troubled Falmouth.

The equalising goal came on 75 minutes, when a corner was only half-cleared and returned with interest, with the winner coming ten minutes later.

For Town, Denny was the stand-out performer and the two 18 year-old debutants, Andrew Sowden in goal and full back Harvey Field, both acquitted themselves well in testing conditions.

For the Evesham game, Town will be without last season’s leading goal scorers, Jordan Harris and Levi Landricombe but should welcome back James Richards.

Town had completed their pre-season friendlies last Wednesday, when they entertained an Exeter City side in front of a crowd approaching 1,000. Exmouth-born Sonny Cox put City ahead before Harvey Dorothy equalised, only for goals from Mitch Beardmore and Harrison King to seal a City victory.

An ankle injury to City’s Gabe Billington that has now required surgery held up play for 15 minutes and we wish him well for a full and speedy recovery.