The South Gloucestershire side well placed for a return to the Premier Division after two seasons back in Division One, although in-form Evesham United are gaining on them in the title race, now just six points behind. On the whole, Yate are still in really good form themselves. They got back to winning ways after three games without a win, with a 2-1 success at Westbury on Tuesday night. Yate have only lost one of their last nine, that being a 2-1 defeat to their closest rivals Evesham. Six sides have scored more goals than Yate in the league this season, but crucially their defence is a mean one. The Bluebells have conceded just 32 goals, only Bishop’s Cleeve have conceded less with 29.

Bideford are on their worst run of the season with no wins in their last 10 games. This run of form has seen them drop to 18th position, just two points above the last relegation spot currently occupied by Helston. The Robins have drawn a third of their games this season, and five of their last 10 games have ended in a stalemate. One of those draws was a very encouraging performance at Yate, where Jamie Hearsey’s second half equaliser gave Bideford a well deserved point.

The Robins have lost their last two games though at Evesham and Larkhall where they suffered a late turnaround last Saturday.

Sean Joyce: “I thought it was a good performance at Larkhall, but the red card cost us and we got punished for mistakes near the end. Jack made a mistake for the winner, but there were a number of mistakes that caused us to concede the two goals. Jack actually had a really good game up until then, so did Sloughy who was carrying a knock and soldiered on for us. We were five minutes away from people saying “what a great Bideford away performance with 10-men” but just-like-that it all changes and it becomes a ‘bad performance’, ‘I’m a bad manager’ and all the rest of it.”

“We’re now in a position we don’t want to be in. It’s going to be a massive scrap until the end of the season. We can’t buy our way out of it either. You see other clubs like Helston, Shaftesbury and even Tavistock spending money to try and get out of trouble, but the reality is we are just not in a position to be able to do that. What we have to do is roll our sleeves up and give it everything we’ve got, and in the end if that’s not good enough, then so be it.”

“We’ve had it really tough with the fixtures. Seven midweek away fixtures with the distances we travel is a lot to ask of a club of our size. We’ve got another massive one this Tuesday night at Cribbs, but they’re all massive now. Yate on Saturday will obviously be really tough as they’re top of the league and have been most of the season. But it’s still in our own hands, we now have to fight and scrap to get ourselves to safety.”

Bideford’s last six (LDWDLL) Pos 18th Pld 33 W9 D11 L13 Pts 38
15/03/25 Larkhall Athletic 2 Bideford 1 (League)
11/03/25 Evesham United 3 Bideford 1 (League)
08/03/25 Bideford 1 Thatcham Town 1 (League)
04/03/25 Bideford 2 Plymouth Argyle 0 (Devon Cup QF)
01/03/25 Bemerton Heath Harlequins 1 Bideford 1 (League)
22/02/25 Bideford 1 Bashley 2 (League)

Yate Town’s last six (WWDLDW) Pos 1st Pld 35 W22 D8 L5 Pts 74
18/03/25 Westbury United 1 Yate Town 2 (League)
15/03/25 Yate Town 1 Melksham Town 1 (League)
08/03/25 Evesham United 2 Yate Town 1 (League)
04/03/25 Yate Town 3 Willand Rovers 3 (League)
01/03/25 Yate Town 3 Shaftesbury 1 (League)
15/02/25 Thatcham Town 1 Yate Town 3 (League)

A Brief History of Yate Town FC
Yate Town were originally formed in 1906 as Yate Rovers before becoming Yate YMCA in 1946 and played at local league level. In 1968 they became founder members of the Gloucestershire County League and changed their name to Yate Town in 1969. They joined Hellenic League Division One in 1983 and were promoted to the Premier Division in 1985. Yate Town were Hellenic League Champions in 1987/88 and again in 1988/89 before accepting promotion to the Southern League Southern Division for season 1989/90. They switched between the Southern, Midland and Western Divisions in the coming years but were relegated back to the Hellenic Premier Division in 2000. Yate soon returned to the Southern League after finishing runners-up in 2002/03 and another 2nd place finish in 2004/05 meant promotion to the Southern League Premier Division. After four seasons in the Premier Division they were relegated in 2008/09 to Division One South & West. In 2012/13 Yate reached the 1st Round proper of the FA Cup where they were beaten 3-0 by Cheltenham Town. They returned to the Premier Division after a 10 year absence following a 3rd place finish in 2018/19 which led to a play-off final win over Cinderford Town. Two abandoned seasons due to the coronavirus pandemic followed but Yate finished a very respectable 7th in 2021/22, a season in which they reached the 1st Round proper of the FA Cup again this time going out to Yeovil Town. However, in 2022/23 the club were relegated back to Division One South after finishing second from bottom. In 2023/24 Yate were ended their campaign in 8th position.

Yate Town FC
Lodge Road
Yate
South Gloucestershire
BS37 7LE
Tel: 01454 228103
Web: https://www.yatetownfc.com
Twitter: @YateTownFC

Most recent clashes
04/02/25 Yate Town 1 Bideford 1 (Southern League Div 1 South)
21/09/24 Yate Town 2 Bideford 0 (FA Trophy Q2)
24/02/24 Yate Town 1 Bideford 0 (Southern League Div 1 South)
18/11/23 Bideford 1 Yate Town 1 (Southern League Div 1 South)
12/01/19 Bideford 3 Yate Town 1 (Southern League Div 1 South)
21/08/18 Yate Town 2 Bideford 0 (Southern League Div 1 South)
16/12/17 Bideford 1 Yate Town 2 (Southern League Div 1 West)
15/08/17 Yate Town 0 Bideford 1 (Southern League Div 1 West)
11/02/17 Bideford 2 Yate Town 0 (Southern League Div 1 S&W)
15/10/16 Yate Town 1 Bideford 2 (Southern League Div 1 S&W)
19/11/13 Bideford 0 Yate Town 1 (Southern League Cup R2)
28/09/13 Yate Town 2 Bideford 1 (FA Cup Q2)
31/12/11 Yate Town 3 Bideford 3 (Southern League Div 1 S&W)
27/08/11 Bideford 2 Yate Town 2 (Southern League Div 1 S&W)