TAVISTOCK AFC manager Stuart Henderson spoke to the club’s media after their latest defeat in the Southern League South, suffering heartbreak at the death against Exmouth Town (full match report).

Henderson thought his team “Were good value for a point”, continuing, “Oaky (Tavi goalkeeper) didn’t have too much to do besides a couple of efforts from range.”

“Aaron [Dearing] is okay but he’s just not fully fit” was the explanation from the man in charge as to why Oaky deputised in between the sticks.

Dearing’s struggles were just the tip of the iceberg in what has “been a tough week or two”. Tavi “lost three players- we always knew Harry [French] was off to West Brom which is brilliant and we wish him well and then unfortunately, Henry Donovan has been ruled out, with the rehabilitation work he’s been doing, for the rest of the season and Alfie [Cunningham] has moved on to Parkway.”

Harry French is a talented youngster who has featured for the Lambs as well as Newton Abbot Spurs in recent month and now has the opportunity to excel on a huge stage.

A single goal decided this league clash between Tavistock and Exmouth Town, coming from the penalty spot in added time: “they threaded an opening, the ball died on a heavy pitch and then their player got there just before the goalkeeper, so no arguments about the decision.”

As has been previously alluded to, Henderson remained impressed by what he saw from his team even after the penalty at the death left them empty-handed. “We felt we deserved a point for the shift the boys put in, [they] stuck to the game plan, probably had two half chances [in the] first half and then hit the post in the second half, you hope one of those goes in but we’ve come to second in the league.

“If anyone was watching that and saw they were second and we’re three off the bottom, I don’t really think there was that much of a gulf there.”

Looking at the bigger picture of this defeat and Henderson added, “the boys are probably fed up with me and Darren saying it and we’re fed up of saying it but we lost 1-0 to Yate, top of the league, we’ve lost 1-0 to these [Exmouth] twice, we’ve lost 1-0 to Evesham who are third so we’re not a million miles away. It is a young squad and it’s a tough league, we all know that, we’ve just got to keep fighting and see where it takes us.”

With the likes of French and Cunningham departing for pastures new, there is a clear need for an injection of fresh faces into the squad, something which Henderson acknowledged.

“We need to do some business this week, with everyone today it was just 14 players so that’s obviously not enough, one or two of them have got knocks” as well.

“We’ve got targets that we’re trying to bring in to bolster the squad.”

Still to come in the month of January are a trio of home games against Bishops Cleeve (Jan 18), Bristol Manor Farm (Jan 22) and Melksham Town (Jan 29) with a trip to Shaftesbury (Jan 25) sandwiched in there, so games are coming thick and fast and new signings will surely be needed.