MANAGER Stuart Henderson was delighted with his Lambs as they romped to a 5-0 win at Cadbury Heath to go seven points clear at the top of the Toolstation Western League Premier Division table,
Liam Prynn led the way with another hat-trick – taking him to 22 goals for the season now – but it was Josh Grant that opened the scoring from the spot after Prynn had been fouled inside the penalty box.
Captain Lewis Daw then put the gloss on another fine away day for the Lambs with the fifth and final goal late on – his first of the season, much to the delight of Henderson.
“We got the early goal and that makes all the difference. It settled us down really and it was quite comfortable in the end,” he said. “It could have been six or seven. Josh Parry had a goal disallowed, but it was a good performance.
“The way they set up, they had a go and had chances at 0-0 and 1-0. But we did play some good stuff and what I am particularly pleased about is that we can mix it up so we aren’t predictable. We go long and then we play, so we mix it up and there is good rotation going on and stuff like that. I’m really pleased and long may it continue.”
Captain Daw was given the man of the match accolade by Henderson, after another excellent performance, but the outstanding form of Prynn right now is a large part of why Tavi are doing so well this year. What makes it even more impressive is that there were question marks over whether Prynn was going to return to Langsford Park in the summer, but he is playing better than ever.
“It’s brilliant. He’s a lovely lad and it’s great to see,” Henderson said. “He’s really loving his football at the moment and you know what it’s like for strikers, when they are on a run and have that confidence, the goals will flow.
“I just love the way he finishes. He doesn’t smash the ball, he just passes the ball into the net and he is a very calm and confident player right now.
“At the start of the season, he had a few things going on and had just finished his Masters degree. He wasn’t sure where he was going to live, or what he was doing, and he’d played football from such a young age that he was questioning his desire and whether he still loved it, or whether it was something he did almost out of habit.
“He had a bit of time out and now, although we were panicking a bit at the time, it has worked out for everyone. It’s made him realise his love for the game and he has come back and he’s absolutely on fire.”
The Lambs have a healthy lead at the top of the table and are seven clear of second-placed Bitton, who were thumped 4-0 at home by Mousehole.
Ilfracombe climbed up to third after a superb 2-0 win over Buckland Athletic, who slip to seventh, while Helston Athletic needed two very controversial late penalties to overcome plucky Street 2-1 to keep pace at the top. They are ten points behind Tavi with four games in hand.
“The teams around us have those games in hand and there was a mixed bag of results at the weekend, but we are not really worried about what other teams do,” Henderson added.
“We have 17 games left and someone pointed out to me on the bus, we have ten of those at home and our home form over the years has been excellent, although, that said, our away form this year has been better than our home form.
“Things can change so quickly, though and to use that old cliché, we just have to take it one game at a time, hope that players continue to be in good form and see where it takes us.
“We had a lot of injuries at the start of the season, so hopefully we have got them out of the way now and we have a clean bill of health until the end of the season.”
Attention now turns to the FA Vase with Tavistock heading to South West Peninsula League East high fliers Brixham on Friday night.
