TIVERTON TOWN | SPRING INTO LIFE

The Premier South club has since an upturn in fortunes during March

Clean sheets and solidity have been the name of the game for Tiverton Town since Asa Hall stepped up to become player-manager at the beginning of March.

His four games at the helm so far have seen the Pitching In Southern League Premier South club keep successive clean sheets as they followed up goalless draws with Havant & Waterlooville and Frome Town with a 2-0 away win at Winchester City and Saturday’s battling 1-0 triumph over Swindon Supermarine, a game which saw Hall himself bag the all-important goal.

It’s a run that has seen the Devon outfit put themselves amongst a cluster of clubs battling to avoid the drop in what is sure to be an exciting run-in to the end of the season with the whole of the bottom half of the table, with the exception of Marlow, separated by just nine points.

“Those four clean sheets have been massive for us,” skipper, Matt Britton, told us. “It sets a great foundation for us to go on and win games.

“The back five have been superb for us recently, no more so than our ‘keeper, Joe Duncan. He’s a young lad with some career ahead of him!

“There’s a really positive mood in the camp; every player understands their responsibility and what is expected of them. It’s about pushing standards to get the best out of each other and we’ve been on a good run since the start of March.

“We’re taking each game as it comes, that’s all you can do, but we know that the run-in is going to be exciting with plenty of football to be played and plenty of clubs still involved in the battle to avoid the drop.

“Anything can happen; this season has proved that, aside from the top five or six clubs, everyone else is so evenly-matched and literally everyone is capable of beating each other. We’ll just look to keep doing what we’re doing and see where it takes us.

“It’s been a tough season for the club. We’ve had three different sets of coaching staff and quite a lot of changes amongst the playing staff.

“We’ve managed to keep the core group together, which is important, and hopefully we have enough around us to get out of the relegation zone and secure our place at this level for next season.

“Personally, I’ve enjoyed leading the team as captain. It’s the first time I’ve had this role and it’s a responsibility that I have embraced – I just hope we can see the job out and achieve our objective.”

It’s Friday night action for Britton and his team-mates this week as they head to play-off hopefuls, Gloucester City, in what is sure to be a tough test of their defensive credentials.

IMAGE: Tiverton Town FC

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