Tiverton Town are currently enjoying the most successful spell of their 86 year history. Since the turn of this decade, Tivvy have established themselves as one of the top non-league sides in the South West and, at their level, arguably one of the top non-league sides in the country. Their dominance of the Western League and success in the F.A.Cup and F.A.Vase has brought the club into the national spotlight on several occasions.
All this is a far cry from the birth of the club in 1913.

Originally known as Tiverton Athletic FC, they played in the East Devon League and were based, at that time, at the Athletic Ground which is now known as Amory Park. In 1921, Tiverton Athletic moved to The Elms, which backed onto Blundell's road (now a lorry park) and after several mergers with other Tiverton based sides, 'Athletic' was dropped from the name to become Tiverton Town FC in 1929. As a junior club, they enjoyed periods of success, including four East Devon League titles on the trot from 1925 through 1928, plus the East Devon Senior Cup and the Devon Senior Cup on a number of occasions, along with other minor trophies. Tivvy won the North Devon League in 1932, their only season in the competition, and then joined and settled into the Exeter and District League enjoying reasonable success, winning the championship in 1934. With the onset of the Second World War football was suspended and the Elms was requisitioned as a storage dump.
1946 saw the reformation of Tiverton Town FC, move to their current ground Ladysmead and the return to the Exeter and District League (renamed Devon and Exeter League in 1971) where they remained until 1973, the year that the Western League accepted their application to join them. This marked the beginning of a new phase for Tiverton as they moved out of local football and into the top competition in the Westcountry.

Tiverton 1973/74
Back row: R Shears (Trainer) J Cridland, T Butt, A Broomfield, R Sowden, P Hagley, J Vanstone, B Sharples (Manager)
Front row: M Southcott, K Freeman, J Freeman, M Howe, R Stone, R Lancelles

They consolidated their position in that league finishing fifth in the Premier Division in 1978/79. However, just two years later they were relegated to Division One where they languished in the lower reaches for four years, eventually finishing bottom of the First Division. Their Western League survival was due to the fact that the league was three teams short of it's maximum so, whilst Ilfracombe town, Torrington and Westbury United were admitted, no team was relegated out of the league.

This was the turning point in Tivvy's fortunes, because it coincided with the construction of a new clubhouse, thanks to the assistance of their new President Dan McCauley and the organisation and hard work of the manager at that time, Mike Southcott. 

Tiverton 1989-90
Back row: J Owen (Manager) M Saunders, M Short, J Durham, K Bryant, K Allen, P Webber, M Rogers, H Steele, K Simmons (Physio)
Front row: R Forbes, N Saunders, C, Jones, N, Jarvis, M Seatherton

John Owen arrived from Clyst Rovers as assistant and two years later became manager. Under his guidance, Tivvy began to climb the table and in the1988/89 season won promotion back to the Premier Division. With John Owen at the helm Tivvy finished fourth in their first two seasons back in the top flight. In the 1990/91 and 1991/92 seasons they reached the First Round Proper of the F.A.Cup, going out to Aldershot who were then in the Football League and Barnet respectively. After capturing the Devon (St Lukes) Challenge cup at the end of that season, John Owen stepped down as manager to become assistant to Martyn Rogers who had joined the club as a player two years earlier.

The appointment of Martyn Rogers as player/manager was to be inspired because, under his guidance, the club have revelled in unprecedented success including four Western League Championships in five seasons, three further appearances in the F.A.Cup First Round Proper, as well as three Wembley appearances. The first, in 1993, ended in a 1-0 defeat to Bridlington. Tivvy finished as runners up in the league that year but won the Les Phillips Western League cup and Devon (St Lukes) cup. Their dominance in the Western League continued as in 1994 they completed the domestic treble of League Championship, League Cup and County Cup. The following season saw Tivvy retain the league title and County Cup as well as reaching the First Round Proper of the F.A. Cup again following a memorable 4-4 draw with Farnborough at Ladysmead and a stunning 5-1 victory in the replay. Tivvys opponents in the F.A.Cup on this occasion was Leyton Orient who, on a soggy Ladysmead surface, ran out 3-1 winners in front of a record crowd of 3,000. 1996 saw Tivvy relinquish the league title to Taunton, but retain the Les Phillips (Western League) Cup.
In1997 Tivvy courted the attention of the national media again with an incredible run that saw them win their first 26 league games on the trot before eventually dropping points in an epic tussle with Taunton under the glow of the comet Hale Bop.

With six of the side that lost to Bridlington in the Vase still at the club, Wembley held no fear for the team that had just broken the Western League scoring record of 148 goals in the top flight that Welton set in 1964/65. And so it proved to be that Tiverton became the first Devon and Western League Club to win a cup at Wembley, beating Tow Low Town with a single Pete Varley goal.
10,000 supporters journeyed to Wembley and it seemed that almost that many filled the streets of Tiverton the following Sunday afternoon to greet the team home. It was quite a party, but the players had recovered enough to beat Taunton in the Les Phillips (Western League) Cup final at Yeovil 3-2 on the Wednesday, to complete the treble of League Championship, League Cup and F.A. Vase.

The F.A. Trophy winners Cheltenham arrived pre-season 1998/99 to play a game that had been arranged following their 2-1 win over Tiverton in a thrilling F.A.Cup First round Proper tie in 1997/98. Team Talk donated the Team Talk Challenge Cup to be contested by the winners of the Trophy and Vase. Tivvy beat Cheltenham 2-0.

With the F.A.Vase in the trophy cabinet and the ground improvements implemented, the time had come to look ahead and plan the future. Thus the objective for the 1998/99 season was to finish in the top two and gain promotion to the Dr Martens League. When asked in a T.V. interview following the Vase win, "what was he hoping to achieve next season", Martyn Rogers replied that he would like to "retain the thing". I'm not sure that many thought that it could be done, after all it took Tivvy five years to get back there following the defeat by Bridlington, but with Tiverton being named as West Country Team of the Year and striker Phil Everett picking up the ultimate accolade of England's Non-League Footballer of the Year, confidence was high and Tiverton Town FC had really come of age.
Following a stuttering start to the 1998/99 season Tivvy eventually found their rhythm conquering all before them in a single minded defence of the Vase. Following two impressive performances against old rivals Taunton in the semi finals with a 5-1 aggregate score, the scene was set for a return to Wembley and a climax to the season that saw Tivvy finish second and achieve their objective of promotion. At Wembley, 10,000 Tivvy supporters watched Scott Rogers score an 88th minute goal to beat a very good Bedlington Terriers side 1-0 to, as Martyn Rogers predicted, 'retain the thing'.

The start of the 1999/2000 season saw Kingstonian at Ladysmead to compete for the Team Talk Challenge Cup and what an excellent game it turned out to be. Tivvy found themselves up against a very quick and very impressive Kingstonian side showing, clearly, why they are the F.A. Trophy holders and among the favourites to win the Conference. Having said that, Tivvy put up a tremendous display narrowly losing 3 - 4 giving up their hold on the cup which they had won so convincingly in the game against Cheltenham the previous year.
The other big occassion at the start of this season was Martyn Rogers' much deserved testimonial match against Wolverhampton Wanderers in which Tivvy lost 1-3.

Martyn Rogers' Testimonial
The Ladysmead boss was all smiles in the run-out in his own testimonial clash against Wolves. A crowd of 1,515 saw the visitors ease into a 3-0 lead before Tivvy replied through Kevin Nancekivell.
It was Tivvy's first pre-season goal against Football League opposition after losing 2-0 to Portsmouth and drawing 0-0 with Northampton. "I know it sounds strange as we haven't won yet, but I'm pleased with how things are going," said Martyn. "We have played quality opposition and the lads have worked hard. They really stuck at it tonight. "It's nice for the defence, especially, to get that sort of practice. It will stand them in good stead for the Dr Martens.
Martyn receives applause from both sets of players as well as anovation from the supporters.

The biggest cheer of the evening was reserved for Martyn Rogers when the 44-year-old entered the action as a late substitute.
He deserved the applause. Sixteen trophies in eight years as manager speaks volumes.
Tivvy chairman Dave Wright summed Martyn Rogers' contribution to the Tiverton success story in the programme, where he quipped: "No-one doubted Martyn's defensive abilities (on arriving at Tiverton). "All the supporters with stiff necks constantly looking skywards hoping to catch a glimpse of one of Martyn's clearances were not to know they were looking at the limit to this man's ability."

Tivvy's first season 1999/2000 in the Dr Martens League ended with them needing, on the last day, a win away at Rocester and Moor Green to lose at Bedworth if they were to be promoted to the Premier Division on their first attempt. Unfortunately it was not to be with Moor Green running out comfortable winners and deservedly finishing as runners up to Stafford Rangers who went up as champions. All in all, an excellent first season in the Western Division. Perhaps, if it had not been for serious injuries to three key players it might well have been different.
The season ended on a high, when an almost full strength Torquay United came to Ladysmead to contest the Devon St Lukes Bowl. On a warm May evening 780 fans witnessed one of the most exciting games ever seen at Ladysmead. In a pulsating game Tivvy more than matched their loftier opponents, but squandered a 2 - 0 lead for the game to finish 2 -2. Tivvy again took the lead in extra time only to see Torquay fight back to make it 3 - 3 in the dying minutes. Then followed a penalty shoot out that saw Tivvy's keeper Paul Edwards in tremendous form. He brilliantly saved three penalties for Tivvy to win 3 - 2 and reclaim the Devon St Lukes Bowl for the sixth time in ten years.

The Start of season 2000/2001 was not quite as the club had intended. The acrimonious departure of player of the year Kevin Nancekivell to Plymouth Argyle effected the way the team played. Nance's drive and energy, not to mention his goals was sorely missed.
In November Ladysmead hero Dave Leonard announced to a shocked clubhouse that he was retiring from the game to spend more time at home with his family.
Hugely experienced, but pint sized Jason Rees was signed from Exeter City to beef up the midfield and prolific goal scorer, Dave Toomey was signed from Cinderford. With these new signings, gradually, things began to slot into place, the team began to gel and started to climb the league table after finding themselves in sixteenth place, a position that Tivvy are not accustomed to.
Tivvy hit the headlines in September when it transpired that an administatrive error at Merthyr Tidfil meant that, unknown to Tivvy, Jason Rees did not have the international clearance to enable him to play in the English league or the FA Cup. When it was eventually discovered by the FA that Jason Rees had been playing for Tivvy without international clearance the FA decreed that the first qualifiying round match against Bristol Manor Farm in which Tivvy won 1-0 at Ladysmead had to replayed at Bristol Manor Farm. Tivvy went on to win the rematch up at Bristol Manor Farm 4-0 without the suspended Jason Rees, but were eventually knocked out in the third round in an extremely ugly game in which Tivvy lost at home to Gloucester City 1-3.

As they say, football is a funny old game, as by Christmas Kevin Nancekivell had returned to Tivvy from Plymouth and immediately set about changing the teams fortunes and later in the season Dave Leonard returned in emphatic style to help Tivvy gain promotion. One of the main features of season 2000 - 2001 was the weather (slightly damp) which played havoc with the fixtures. Tivvy's games were piling up to such an extent that they had to complete a quarter of the season in the last month!!
No one really thought that we had a chance to make up the remaining fixtures and win promotion, but that is exactly what they did. To gain promotion in such emphatic style is trully an amazing achievement and one that will be remembered for many a year as the lads managed to take 38 points from 15 matches in just 28 days - absolutely incredible.

On a sad note, 2001 will also be remembered as the year that Tivvy lost two past chairmen. Two of the nicest men you could ever wish to meet - Wally Knowles and Derek Long both sadly passed away before seeing their beloved team promoted to the Premier Division.

Season 2001-2002 saw Tivvy in the Dr Martens Premier Division for the first time in their history and started brightly with a 2-0 win at Ladysmead against Folkestone Invicta. Coupled with the unexpected departure of Steve Daly, Tivvy took a little longer to settle into life in the Premier Division and started to slide down the table to depths not known for many years. Dave Leonard also found life (travelling) in the Premier Division difficult and announced his departure from the club.
A magnificent victory at Billericay in the 4th round of the FA Cup was a turning point for Tivvy's fortunes, starting with a place in the FA Cup 1st round for the fifth time in their history.
The draw saw them first out of the bag to play Cardiff, but a meeting between club officials and the police saw, for safety reasons, the fixture switched to Ninian Park.

Tivvy played magnificently, but lost to the Second Division promotion hopefulls 1-3 with Tivvy's goal coming from Kevin Nancekivell.
Tivvy, however, received a standing ovation from the crowd of 6648, as too did Paul Tatterton, who used the occasion to announce his retirement from the game.

The end of season dinner and presentation evening was the venue that Neil Saunders used to announced that he was leaving the club. Since joining the club from Crediton United back in 1988, Neil has been a superb servant, was always consistent and never gave less than 100%. Neil spent one season 95/96 playing for Bath City in the Conference. He returned to Ladysmead the following year an even better player. He was the only team member to have played in all five F.A. Cup First round Proper ties and is (and will probably always be) the club's most decorated player.

Nicky Marker also used the occasion to announce his retirement form the game, saying, "my mind says that it wants to keep going, but my body says that it is not up to it".
Nicky Marker, whose stay with the club lasted two and half years, made an enormous contribution to the success and promotion of the club. Nicky began his career with his home town club (Exeter City) making 202 appearances for the Grecians. He moved on to neighbours Plymouth Argyle and made another 202 appearances for the Pilgrims. Blackburn Rovers was Nicky's next port of call. He made 54 appearances for the Ewood Park Premiership champion winning team and also played in Europe before turning out 61 times for Sheffield United and 4 more for Plymouth whilst on loan.

Tivvy eventually finished the season in a very creditable 6th position. It was a good performance for their first season in The Premier Division, but following a narrow 2-1 - extra time - defeat at home to Exeter City in the semi final of the Devon St Lukes Bowl, the end of season run-in had an unfamiliar feel about it.
It was the first time in many years that the club has had nothing to play for. The carnival atmosphere in the last game of the season at home to Kettering, in which Kettering needed to win to gain promotion to the Conference was all the more strange, but perhaps a feeling that, at this level, we will have to get used to.
Tivvy played Exeter City again after the season had finished. This time it was to honour, just voted - The All Time Tivvy Hero - Phil Everett in his testimonial.

Phil's Testimonial
Few players can ever be, or have ever been, held in as high esteem at a football club as Phil Everett is at Tiverton Town. As if to disprove the old saying 'You can't please everyone', Phil has been all things to all men at Tivvy. Professional in his attitude, skilful as a player, and 'all round good egg' off the field. Over 700 fans turned up at Ladysmead to watch a strong Exeter City line up face a Yellows side that included players from a decade in which Phil had been an integral part of Tiverton's climb from the Western League to the brink of the football Conference and to thereby honour the man that has topped 500 competitive appearances and found the net over 350 times for the club.
The starting line up included only one of the 'old boys'. Kevin Smith wore the No.8 shirt as he had done in the days when his pairing with Phil had caused many a defence to quake before their onslaught. A few pounds heavier, Smudger showed he still retained some of the old touches, even though the pace may have been lacking - and was that a pack of Marlboro's tucked in his shorts?
City took the initiative early on but unsurprisingly for such a match there was little urgency, the spectacle and occasion being more important than the result. On the half hour Exeter took the lead. A penalty. Such was the cruciality of the kick that Stuart Fraser left his station between the City posts, galloped the length of the field and crashed the spot kick home past Paul Edwards outstretched left hand. Town came back and nearly levelled things on the half time whistle when Scot Rogers hit the crossbar.
Mass substitutions at half time saw the remainder of the current Tivvy squad take the field and with them a replacement of energy levels. Jamie Mudge, eager as ever to show that he was a match for his former club mates, took just three minutes to make his mark. In a typically Jamie move he broke down the right and crossed into the box to present Antony Lynch with a simple sidefoot past Fraser. Town were not only back in the game they were in control. When Lynch set up Mudge for the second goal six minutes later they were deservedly in front and it was time for another bout of personnel changes. A few of the young hopefuls that still keep in touch with Ladysmead in the hope of getting a game were given their chance. Steve Hynds, Pete Conning, Paul Tatterton and the ever youthful Hedley Steele were all out there, joining Phil who returned to the fray after a prolonged half time break. Even Paul Edwards was given a rest as the redoubtable Ian Knott donned the gloves once more. And 'Knotty', like Kevin Smith showed he had lost none of his old touch. The first time the ball came to him we were treated to a 'Diss moment' as Ian grabbed it at the third attempt, raising cheers from those fans with memories far longer than the former Tivvy keeper's kicks. It became all quite light hearted as the fans willed the man whose evening it was to find the net. The yellow shirted players endlessly tried to tee the ball up for Phil but the Grecians were having none of it and thwarted the attempts with the determination of hardened party-poopers. With seconds remaining Phil turned on a sixpence to crash the ball goalwards but Sub keeper Steve Johns scrambled the ball away and it seemed the goal was not going to come. One final attack. One last chance, and Everett on the score sheet as he bundled the ball over the line from close range. It completed the evening's entertainment both metaphorically and factually as no sooner had City re-started than the final whistle sounded. It was the end of the game and possibly the end of an era. Hopefully we will still see a lot more of Phil Everett in a Tivvy shirt. If not, then we have ten years of memories to thank him for.

John Reidy

When Martyn Rogers called me on Phil's behalf to delve into his Tivvy past, I must admit that I went as white as a sheet. To investigate ten illustrious years of the all-time record goalscorer would not be a five minute job. Indeed, the club has no central records of appearances so I basically started with a blank sheet of paper.Little did I know what a magical mystery tour I would embark on in my quest to hunt down every one of those appearances.
The thought that Kerry Miller's "The History of Tiverton Town Football Club" would make a good starting point was misconceived as this did not include appearances and, indeed, only covered the first three years of Phil's career. Digging deeper it also showed discrepencies with regards to goalscorers in individual matches (some missing, some incorrect) and season totals. Indeed I know what a Herculean task it must have been for Kerry to get as much information correct as he did. And this mighty tome did manage to help fill some huge holes, especially the 1994/95 season. And then James Wright came partly to the rescue with a list of all the games that Tivvy had played since August 1996 - in the form of a spreedsheet resplendent with goalscorers and attendances. But, of course, not appearances! But the sheet of paper was no longer blank.
Programmes during the earlier seasons had intermittent appearance tallies and even using the fine Tivvy Town website almost proved to be a folly - but more of that later. We also had to define terms of reference for appearances. So, out went testimonials and friendlies - even those which had a trophy to play for, such as the Team Talk Challenge Cup and the Mills Hospital Cup. The pool of games used was based on all matches that were designated as Western League Premier Division, Les Phillips Cup, FA Cup, FA Vase, FA Trophy, Devon St Lukes (in both its guises) and any Southern League game, whether League or Cup. And an appearance as substitute is only registered if he came on, not if he was 'not used'. And reserve games were not even delved into.
Cajoling of current Football Secretary, Ramsay Findlay, reaped its reward when he managed to uncover the Western League team sheets for seasons 1995/96, 1996/97, 1997/98 and 1998/99, which also included the Les Phillips Cup. This was as definitive as you could get. He also had a book of FA matches which, had it been taken for gospel, would have deprived Phil of an impressive record (again I'm getting ahead of myself) - but no records of the Devon St Lukes existed, as this competition requires the completion of a postcard to be sent to County HQ - no copies being produced at the same time. It was thanks to NCR paper that copies of line-ups for all other competitive games were, in theory, produced.

So we had a few large gaps such as 1992/93, 1993/94 and 1994/95. But we did have the good fortune of statistics from the latter years of the Western League (when I was the incumbent of the Programme Editor's job) and the Southern League - thanks to John Fournier. These programmes documented appearances for every competitive game and were to prove to be a godsend.
Unfortunately, with work schedules reducing the number of hours available for this research, I decided to take a short-cut and extract final appearances from the Tivvy web-site archives for the latter seasons and this, when taken into account with all other evidence, led me to believe that Phil would fall short of the magical 500 appearances for the club.
What we did know was that Phil scored his first goal thirteen days after his 24^th birthday in our 3-2 victory at Westbury on Saturday August 22^nd 1992 having joined from Dawlish Town.
In those days, just as this, Tivvy had a small squad and that season, along with the more well-known names of Ian Nott, Jason Smith, Neil and Mark Saunders, Mark Short, Hedley Steele, Matthew Scott, Lee Annunziata, Kevin Smith, Steve Daly, Steve Hynds and Martyn and Peter Rogers, we also saw the odd appearance from Dean Newman, Paul Ashford and Rob Hagley.
However, we had no clue as to how many appearances Phil had made as, unfortunately, the record keeper from that era, Sid Chorley, had not kept all the stats. So it was with some relief that Ramsay's second hunt around his house, loft and garage a week ago, led him to the Western League team-sheets for Phil's first two seasons. (But still no 1994/95). From this he was able to inform me that Phil had played 35 times (out of a maximum 38) in the league and made five out of five appearances in the Les Phillips Cup. He played in both FA Cup ties against Bath City and, according to the official FA log, played in nine of our FA Vase games. (We played ten that season).
Indeed, it was whilst at Dawlish that Phil got the bug for the FA Vase and he remembers being in the dressing room at Torrington on October 3^rd 1992 explainiing to the rest of the Tivvy team that if little old Dawlish could get through to the latter stages of the national competition then surely a team of the stature of Tivvy could do as well, if not better. Little was he to know that Tivvy would go all the way.
And it was not just a Wembley appearance that came Phil's way that season. Firstly, Tivvy had become runners-up to Clevedon in the Western League Premier Division having scored 134 goals in the process. Then, in a hectic post-Wembley period, he also picked up a winners medal as Tivvy beat Clyst Rovers in the St Lukes, Phil scoring alongside Steve Daly and Kevin Smith in a 3-0 victory. Then, three days later, at Taunton Town, an amazing Les Phillips Cup Final against Clevedon saw Tivvy run out 5-1 winners, Phil scoring twice.
So it looked like Phil had made 55 out of a possible 59 appearances in his first season.

The next season was eagerly awaited and, this time, Phil made 49 appearances our of 52, missing just three league games. Amongst the players in that season's squad were Martin Tregedeon, Matthew Scott, Gary Carpenter, Paul Edwards (the right-back), Martyn Grimshaw, Tony Stuart, Paul Sedgwick, Chris Venner, Darreen Pengelly, Mike Warburton and Matt Taylor.
It was to be a season to remember as Tivvy romped to the League title, 16 points ahead of Taunton, scoring 125 goals in just 34 games. A 1-0 victory at Bideford in the St Lukes Final and the retention of the Les Phillips Cup on a sunny May afternoon at Dawlish when Taunton succumbed 4-1, Phil again scoring, was the icing on the cake.
But it was nothing to the 1994/95 season where Phil scored 51 goals. And that was all I could ascertain until last Wednesday and Thursday when the final pieces of the jigsaw fell into place.
With no official records in existence it was thanks to a lot of people that it all came together. I had a number of programmes from that season and a call to John Reidy helped fill some of the other gaps. But I was still stumped by a few dates and that was when a chance phone-call to Phil pointed me in the right direction.
Fortunately, as Phil was so prolific, we knew that every game he had scored in must be an appearance. But the first game of the season, at Liskeard, was a 4-1 victory - but Phil was not on the scoresheet.
Now, Phil being a teacher, meant that he had to take his holidays when he could and that sometimes coincided with the start of the football season. So, had he been away for this game? Fortunately, he remembered this game well so we knew to include it! But there were other holes, most notably to do with three games against Crediton United.
The first was in the league at Lord's Meadow on December 14^th. The second was on March 1^st in the Les Phillips Cup, also at Crediton. And the third was the return league encounter on Easter Monday, April 17^th, in which I had annotated 'g/k' by his name in the programme. Phil in goal? It seemed to ring a bell with John Reidy. And then I found a programme for a rearranged game played on Easter Sunday at home to Calne where Phil's name was again preceded by 'g/k' in my handwriting.

But Phil couldn't remember this - nor could Dodge and nor, most importantly, could Hedley Steele who would have had to have played in front of him.
That's when Phil's memory was jogged when he realised that this was the "Elmore" season - the one where Elmore and Tivvy were neck and neck in the league. He remembered playing against Mangotsfield on April 1^st and being crocked by their goalkeeper - an ankle injury. Whilst we could not verify one way or the other whether he played two days later at home to Dawlish in the St Lukes, we both agreed that it was highly unlikely. Tivvy had to cram in ten more league games that month, including the vital crunch game at Elmore on Good Friday.
We know that Phil did play at Torrington on April 5^th, because he scored. Indeed, a visit to East Devon College to trawl through the Mid-Devon Gazette archives at lunchtime last Thursday showed him having to retire at half-time.
And Phil had already e-mailed me to confirm that he missed the next two games against Chippenham and Taunton and that he then hobbled around at Elmore in the 0-0 match that turned into a mini-war in front of a crowd of 1,738 as well as the TV cameras. Martyn Grimshaw came on for him after 53 minutes, so why was he then down in my programmes for Easter Sunday and Easter Monday as "g/k"???
It turned out that this was the season when the FA stipulated that you could have two outfield substitutes and one goalkeeper on the bench. Not having a deputy for Ian Nott - and Steve Daly being the obvious choice should Notty get injured - it transpired that Phil was nominated as the substitute goalkeeper! And he wasn't used..
The season ended in Tivvy holding onto the League Championship, one point ahead of Elmore, as well as keeping grips on the St Lukes with a 5-1 win over Bideford, Phil scoring twice. Elmore had the last laugh in the Les Phillips, knocking Tivvy out at the semi-final stage 3-1 at Ladysmead in what was a brilliant game compared to the Good Friday encounter.

All in all, Phil made 46 out of 51 appearances that season (the two earlier games against Crediton turning out to be games that Phil did play in - confirmed by the MDG archives) and played alongside the new names of Paul Tatterton, Dave Leonard, and Dave Stocker. He was ever-present in the FA Cup, FA Vase and the Les Phillips Cup, missing just that St Lukes game against Dawlish plus four league games in April when out with that recurring ankle injury.
In season 1995/96, Phil missed just the first two league games and went on to appear in all six Les Phillips, five FA Cup, the humbling defeat at Bideford in the Vase and both St Lukes games where once again Bideford knocked Tivvy out.
Micky Fallon had joined the club and there were appearances from Dave Mann, Danny Burwood , Dave Jones, Graham Waters, Steve Rowland, Damon Palfrey, Jason Cadle, Brett Wright, Mike Barrett, Ben Rowe, Lee Setter and Jamie Bircham as well as Jason Smith. This was the season that Steve Daly played in goal in the second half at Barnstaple, which we won 5-3 on April 13^th, following an injury to Ian Nott. He then played the whole match at Odd Down a week later when we romped through 7-0.
Phil picked up a winners medal in the Les Phillips - a 4-0 win over Barnstaple, as well as a runners-up medal in the Western League.
1996/97 saw Phil play in 45 out of 51 games. He only started 22 out of 34 league games but came on as sub seven times. He missed one of our Les Phillips Cup games but won a winners medal in our 1-0 victory over Chippenham Town at Paulton Rovers in the Final. Tivvy also won the Western League for the third season in four and regained the St Lukes with a 6-0 thumping of Torrington, Phil and Martyn Grimshaw both scoring a brace. Kevin Smith and a Paul Edwards penalty completed the rout - and this was the season when we had Paul Edwards at number one and number two. Most confusing. It was our current keeper who scored that goal in the Final!
New names to the line-ups, apart from Eddie, included Anthony Thirlby, Mike Taylor, Lee Groves, Nick Campbell, Scott Rogers and, in a season that he will never forget, Kevin Nancekivell.
Season 1997/98 saw Phil miss out on six Western League games but he still made 53 appearances out of a maximum of 59 making him ever-present in cup games in a season which saw Tivvy retain the Western League title, get to the First Round Proper of the FA Cup, losing 2-1 at Cheltenham Town, pick up a winners medal in the thrilling 3-2 victory over Taunton Town in the disrupted match at Yeovil Town when a thunderstorm knocked out the floodlights and, most importantly, four days prior to this game, see Tivvy win at Wembley when Pete Varley's goal beat Tow Law Town.
Other new names around that season included Pete Conning, Lee Aston and Rob McGahey and Hedley Steele also returned to the fold in the February, albeit as cover.
The following campaign, 1998/99, Phil made 53 out of 55 appearances and, had he come on as sub at Backwell on November 7^th and at home to Yeovil Town Reserves on May 5^th, would have been ever-present.

With Tivvy retaining the Vase - Scott Rogers' goal making it 1-0 for the second year running over Northern opponents, this time Bedlington Terriers - it was also a landmark as the final season in the Western League.
New names in the squad included Mark Cutler, Duncan Floyde (back for one game having played many times for the reserves), Paul Maxwell, Richard Pears, Dominic Richardson, Stuart Smith, Darren Tallon and Lee Tucker.
Remarkably, in our first season in the Southern League (season 1999/2000) Phil was ever-present except for the St Lukes semi-final victory over Dawlish Town. He won a winners medal in that competition after we beat Torquay on penalties following a 3-3 draw (Phil scoring twice). In all he made 54 out of 55 appearances, although the web-site had led me to believe he had made three fewer.
Earlier last Thursday I had chased Ramsay once more in order to tie down season 1992/93 in my quest to find out which game he thought Phil had not played in in that season's Vase run. It was then we realised that there was a page missing in the FA log - our 5-1 win over Cinderford in which Phil scored twice. This was a very important find as we shall see in a moment - and added one more to the total. Ramsay then wanted to know how many games Phil had played - and I'd quickly calculated (wrongly) in my head that it was 494 up to and including our win at King's Lynn. "Shame you can't find any more" was his ripost.
It was only an eleventh hour decision to go through seasons 1999/2000 and 2000/01 with a fine tooth comb that showed the shortfall on the web-site due, no doubt, to the fact that I did not file match reports for all of the games!
That season we witnessed performances from the likes of Ryan King, Nicky Marker, Richard Pears, Luke Vinnicombe, Geraint Bater, Lee Harvey, Nathan Blamey and Darren Cann - with Hedley Steele again helping out in two games.
Last season Phil missed just three league games and, again, was ever-present in cups making his tally 52 out of 55. With the foot and mouth epidemic causing problems, we never got round to playing in the St Lukes but Phil did manage a runners-up medal in the Southern League Western Division as Tivvy won promotion to the Premier.
In the side we had new names in Paul Chenoweth, Jamie Morrison-Hill, Nicky Marker, Steve Ovens, David Steele (who had played in our reserves some years earlier), Dave Toomey, Steve Winter, Jason Rees and Rob Speakman - plus a return from Graham Waters for two games.
This season he has so far missed the League Cup game at Clevedon when most of the team were rested prior to our trip to Cardiff in the FA Cup - and two league games. That makes it 48 out of 51 appearances prior to our game against Chelmsford - and a grand total of 502. Amazing.
Throughout his career he has scored 358 goals (unless he popped up with some on Saturday) but he hasn't always played up front. Right back and left wing-back have also been positions he has excelled in but the role I will remember most fondly goes back to the Christmas of 1993 when he made a surprise appearance as Snow White in the Tivvy Town Panto. It was a well-kept secret (even the rest of the team didn't know) and what a brilliant performance. It epitomised the man to me - totally genuine in every way possible and never failing to give 100%.
I never shall forget his instigating of a sing-song in the STAMCO clubhouse after our defeat in the slime. It lifted everyone's spirits and surely made a lasting impression on the home throng as well and showed that he had a pure sporting outlook to his footballing career. Winning isn't everything - it's the taking part.
And he has been a gentleman when playing the game, picking up just four bookings (as far as we all can remember) in those 502 appearances - at Bideford, Calne and Cirencester plus at home to Bristol Manor Farm.
But surely the best accolade of all came from his peers when in 1998 he was made the Non-League Player of the Year - an award that still makes him shake his head in disbelief. But then he's that sort of chap.
And, finally, if we are looking for records, the one that impresses me most is that he has played in EVERY FA Cup, FA Vase and FA Trophy games in the past ten years. That's a grand total of 93 appearances in FA competitions!
And it wasn't just for Tivvy that he played as he was picked for the Devon County side (along with quite a few of his Tivvy team-mates) and managed to help them to one Championship. He also represented the Western League on October 19^th 1993 in the Centenary Match against an FA XI played at Ladysmead. 

The full breakdown of his 502 appearances is as follows:- 

Pre season expectations habitually run high at Tiverton Town. Not really surprising when you consider that only twice in the last 17 years has the side failed to finish a campaign higher up the Pyramid than in the previous season. Pre-Season 2002/3 was little different. Having made signings that appeared to bolster the squad, particularly at the back made an improvement on their 6th place in their first campaign in the Dr Martens Premier Division seem a realistic proposition, though few thought they would be serious contenders for the title. 
The season was to be dominated by goalkeepers. From the moment just over half an hour into the first pre season friendly against Plymouth Argyle that regular glovesman Paul Edwards was stretchered off with an injury that was to keep him inactive for three quarters of the season, to the final game at Welling where he announced his retirement, the Yellows were to utilise six different men between 'the sticks'. Steve Collis came on loan from Yeovil and ended up staying for three months as Edwards recovery was prolonged. Striker Richard Pears was called into action when Collis was red carded in the opening minutes of a torrid local derby against Bath City in the 6th League game of the season. Pears became the Ladysmead hero by saving the penalty kick that resulted from Collis's misdemeanour and Tiverton took all three points to top the Division, albeit briefly, for the first time in their history.
They lost the position three days later with a lacklustre performance at Moor Green that was to typify their season - inconsistency. Edwards returned for 9 games from early November, including an epic ground attendance breaking FA Cup replay at Crawley, but lacked confidence and was replaced by another loanee, Ben Foster, a long way down the pecking order at Stoke City. Foster's stay, too, was extended to the full 3 months. 
Class performances against Bath, Barnet in the FA Cup, Weymouth and Stafford Rangers were interspersed with dismal failures at Grays Athletic in the FA Trophy, Cambridge, Chelmsford and frustratingly a clutch of matches at their Ladysmead home.
Despite their fluctuating form the Yellows managed to maintain their presence in the chasing pack behind champions elect Tamworth and an eight game unbeaten run through March and April saw them clear in second place in the table as Easter arrived. Again the gremlins found their way into the works and three points from the last 15 available saw Town slip back to fourth.
The progress had been maintained but there was a feeling that so much more might have been achieved. The retirement of Edwards and club record striker Phil Everett means there will be more new faces at Ladysmead next season. Until names are announced and the fans have an opportunity to see the players in the July and early August 'practice matches' then judgement on the prospects for season 2003-4 will be reserved. No doubt they will be in keeping with Dickensian tradition at Tiverton......Great Expectations!