Tavistock manager, Tania Coker told us about their success in last week’s Devon FA Aquarius Supplementary Cup Final, with a thrilling 4-3 win over the hugely prolific goalscorers of Buckland Athletic.
SK: Did Buckland’s prolific goal-scoring record particularly worry you when they scored in the 1st minute?
TC: Yes and No. Yes because we didn’t want to get beat like we already had done by them and no, after all every team is beatable and its down to what happens on the day.
We were the ones without the pressure on us as they had been scoring so many goals. We knew if we played our best and worked hard as a team, we would have a good chance against them, put pressure on them and improve on the 12-0 defeat we had already suffered against them earlier on in the season.
If anything with the early goal it spurred us on to push harder to not make it easy for them. We knew what we were capable of, we just had to play the decent football we knew we could play.
SK: How tense was the final, with the lead changing hands and late winner?
TC: As the manager, it was a really tense game to be honest. Once we had gone ahead, we knew we could win it. At half time we remained calm even being 3-2 to us. The closing stages after we had gone in the lead was the most tense part of the game, all we wanted was the ref to blow the whistle!
SK: Can you describe the emotions at and after the final whistle?
TC: At the end of the game it was shock and happiness, as well as being incredibly proud of every team member. No one expected us to win, even a few of us didn’t think we could but it was the best game we had all played.
SK: How is your Devon League season going?
TC: Our Devon season has gone well, we have now finished for the season due to being in such a small league. So we have a long break now until pre-season. This will give the whole team a chance to recover, look for some new players to expand our great team and a chance to find a new manager, as I am stepping down and hope to return to just playing for the new season.
SK: Are you hoping to get promoted to the South West League?
TC: At the beginning of the season we were hoping to be promoted but we have had a couple of results which didnt go our way. There is a slim possibility we could still get promoted to the South West League, but as we only went up last season we are quite happy for another season to build on and work hard on what we have, ready to hopefully push for promotion next season.
SHE KICKS – the online community for women’s football
