Mid-week football returns to the Sports Ground for the first time in over 16 months (excluding friendlies) as Paulton Rovers are the visitors in Southern League Division One South on Tuesday night. Both sides have started the league season with two wins, one draw and one defeat with Paulton ahead on goal difference. Rovers suffered their first league defeat on Saturday losing a tight game at home to Thatcham Town but prior to that had good wins over Cinderford Town and Melksham Town. Bideford are unbeaten in three games with wins over Cribbs (FA Cup) and Willand Rovers before fighting back for a point at unbeaten Larkhall Athletic on Saturday. Billy Tucker is available again after suspension but Bideford remain without Josh Wadham, Ben Carter and Sean Downing.

Form Guide

Paulton Rovers’ last six (WDWLWL) Pos 7th W2 D1 L1 Pts 7
31/08/19 Paulton Rovers 1 Thatcham Town 2 (League)
26/08/19 Melksham Town 2 Paulton Rovers 4 (League)
24/08/19 Plymouth Parkway 5 Paulton Rovers 2 (FA Cup PR)
20/08/19 Paulton Rovers 3 Cinderford Town 1 (League)
17/08/19 Evesham United 1 Paulton Rovers 1 (League)
31/07/19 Salisbury 2 Paulton Rovers 3 (Friendly)

Bideford’s last six (LWLWWD) Pos 9th W2 D1 L1 Pts 7
31/08/19 Larkhall Athletic 2 Bideford 2 (League)
26/08/19 Bideford 2 Willand Rovers 1 (League)
24/08/19 Cribbs 0 Bideford 1 (FA Cup PR)
21/08/19 Frome Town 3 Bideford 0 (League)
17/08/19 Bideford 1 Moneyfields 0 (League)
05/08/19 Taunton Town 1 Bideford 0 (Friendly)

A Brief History of Paulton Rovers FC
Paulton Rovers were founded in 1881 and joined the Western League way back in 1900. They competed in Division One and Division Two for 60 years before moving to the Somerset County League when Division Two was disbanded. Paulton rejoined the Western League in 1974 when it expanded back to two divisions (Premier Dvision and Division One) and spent all but three of the next 30 seasons in the Premier Division. After finishing runners-up behind Bideford in 2003/04, Paulton were promoted to the Southern League. They achieved a second place finish in Division One South & West and were promoted in 2013/14 after winning the play-offs beating Merthyr in the final. Paulton achieved their highest ever league finish of 10th in the Southern Premier Division in 2014/15 but finished bottom in 2015/16 and were relegated back to Division One South & West. In 2016/17 Paulton finished in 15th position, in 2017/18 they ended up 19th and last season they were 17th. Arguably Paulton's finest achievement was reaching the first round proper of the FA Cup in 2009/10 where they hosted Norwich City live on ITV. The match drew a record crowd of 2,070 to the Athletic Field and Norwich ran out 7-0 winners.

Paulton Rovers FC
Athletic Field
Winterfield Road
Paulton
Nr Bristol
BS39 7RF
Tel: 01761 412907
Web: http://www.paultonroversfc.co.uk
Twitter: @PaultonRoversFC

Most recent clashes
22/04/19 Paulton Rovers 1 Bideford 2 (Southern Div 1 South)
01/01/19 Bideford 3 Paulton Rovers 2 (Southern Div 1 South)
14/04/18 Bideford 2 Paulton Rovers 1 (Southern Div 1 West)
14/11/17 Paulton Rovers 1 Bideford 3 (Southern Div 1 West)
28/03/17 Paulton Rovers 2 Bideford 1 (Southern Div 1 S&W)
22/10/16 Bideford 1 Paulton Rovers 1 (Southern Div 1 S&W)
26/12/15 Bideford 0 Paulton Rovers 1 (Southern Premier)
31/08/15 Paulton Rovers 0 Bideford 0 (Southern Premier)
06/04/15 Paulton Rovers 2 Bideford 1 (Southern Premier)
01/01/15 Bideford 3 Paulton Rovers 0 (Southern Premier)
31/03/12 Bideford 0 Paulton Rovers 0 (Southern Div 1 S&W)
10/12/11 Paulton Rovers 1 Bideford 2 (Southern Div 1 S&W)
07/03/11 Paulton Rovers 0 Bideford 0 (Southern Div 1 S&W)
16/11/10 Bideford 3 Paulton Rovers 0 (Southern Div 1 S&W)
29/08/09 Paulton Rovers 3 Bideford 1 (FA Cup PR)