Timsbury Athletic have announced at their AGM that Dominic Eatherdon will take over as First Team Manager for the coming season. Eatherdon will be assisted by Russell Beveridge and will hope to help the village club recover from one of the most difficult seasons in the club's history.
The Chairman, Mike Passingham, was full of praise for the efforts of last season's Managers, Kelvin Hancock and Joe Towells, in what he said were exceptionally testing circumstances. He praised the youth teams who had again been very successful with the Under-12s winning their cup final, with the highlight being the Under-14s winning the Somerset FA Lewin Cup. It was the first time a Timsbury Youth Team had appeared in a county cup final and to win it was an exceptional achievement.
In his First Team Manager's report, Hancock said that it had been a very disappointing season, but that things had improved towards the end of the campaign with the addition of a couple of players. Not having a regular keeper was his biggest regret and player availability affected several matches that the side could have won. Reserve Team Manager Towells had also found it difficult to raise teams.
Mark Brinkworth and Eatherdon outlined the progress made by the youth teams over the last season. The Under-15s enjoyed a very good season, winning their last nine games to finish third, the Under-11s finished third and lost in the semi-final of the cup, the Under-12s had a great season winning their cup and finishing second in their league, while the Under-13s were very much a mixed ability side who had enjoyed their football, winning more games than they lost. Eatherdon said that the Under-14s had been the flag bearers of the club, however, winning the Lewin Cup, deservedly beating Ilchester in an excellent game of football at Street. Lots of Timsbury supporters had attended, the boys all looked very smart and produced a very good show. He added that their behaviour was impeccable and they were a credit to the club and also finished runners-up in the league.
Eatherdon said he was very hopeful of obtaining sponsorship and the two areas he was targeting were for training tops for all the players and also to try and reinstate Sky TV in the club. His target for next season was for both teams to win more games than they lose and produce enough new players to run three teams again the following season.
Malcolm Tucker