Bideford vs Ilfracombe Town
Devon St Luke’s Challenge Cup Round Two
Tuesday 15th November 2022
7:45pm kick off
The Sports Ground, Bideford

There’s a big North Devon derby on Tuesday night at the Sports Ground as Ilfracombe Town will be the visitors in the Devon St Luke’s Challenge Cup. It’ll be the first competitive meeting between Bideford and Ilfracombe in 12 and a half years!

The Robins won the competition for the sixth time last season and will be looking to try and repeat the feat this season but with several players missing and another very important Southern League game at Westbury on Saturday Sean Joyce may be forced to shuffle his pack. Bideford picked up a huge league win at Slimbridge on Saturday which ended a run of three straight defeats.

Ilfracombe come into the cup tie having only lost one of their last six games, to high flying Bridgwater United and last time out picked up a point at Millbrook. In the first round of the St Luke’s Cup, Ilfracombe beat a young Plymouth Argyle side at Marlborough Park while Bideford were given a walkover victory as Torquay United were unable to fulfil the fixture.

Bideford’s last six (WWLLLW) Pos 16th Pld 12 W3 D4 L5 Pts 13
12/11/22 Slimbridge 2 Bideford 3 (League)
05/11/22 Bideford 0 Wimborne Town 1 (League)
29/10/22 Evesham United 2 Bideford 1 (League)
26/10/22 Paulton Rovers 3 Bideford 2 (League)
22/10/22 Bideford 2 Sholing 1 (League)
15/10/22 Bishop’s Cleeve 1 Bideford 2 (League)

Ilfracombe Town’s last six (DWWDLD) Pos 12th Pld 14 W3 D7 L4 Pts 16
12/11/22 Millbrook 1 Ilfracombe Town 1 (Western League)
05/11/22 Ilfracombe Town 0 Bridgwater United 3 (Western League)
29/10/22 Shepton Mallet 2 Ilfracombe Town 2 (Western League)
25/10/22 Ilfracombe Town 1 Plymouth Argyle 0 (St Luke’s Cup R1)
15/10/22 Ilfracombe Town 8 Welton Rovers 0 (Western League)
08/10/22 Mousehole 2 Ilfracombe Town 2 (Western League)

A Brief History of Ilfracombe Town AFC
Established in 1902 as Ilfracombe FC the club were founder members of the North Devon League in 1904 before becoming Ilfracombe Town in 1909. The Bluebirds spent most of their time in the North Devon League until World War II. After the war, Ilfracombe joined the Exeter & District League and then moved on to become founder members of the new Western League Division Three in 1949. They finished as runners-up in 1949/50 and were promoted to Division Two where they were promoted again in 1952/53 after another second place finish. Town were relegated back to Division Two in 1955 and left the Western League in 1959. Spending the next 25 years in the North Devon League, Ilfracombe were league champions in 1966/67, 1970/71, 1981/82 and 1982/83. After finishing as runners-up in 1983/84 the club rejoined the Western League in Division One (second tier) where they remained for the next 23 years. The Bluebirds finished third in 2006/07 and were promoted to the Western League Premier Division. There they achieved their highest ever league finish of third in 2009/10 and again in 2010/11. However in 2014 they resigned from the league and replaced their reserve side in the North Devon Premier Division. Ilfracombe won their fifth North Devon League title in 2016/17 and moved up to the South West Peninsula League finishing seventh and then eighth in Division One East. Due to a league restructure Ilfracombe were placed in Premier Division East for 2019/20 but the season was abandoned due to the coronavirus pandemic. Based on their results in the abandoned 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, Ilfracombe were promoted to the Western League Premier division where they finished in 8th place.

Ilfracombe Town AFC
Marlborough Park
Marlborough Way
Ilfracombe
Devon
EX34 8AB
Tel: 01271 865939
Twitter: @ilfcombeafc

Most recent meetings:
26/07/21 Bideford 2 Ilfracombe Town 0 (Friendly)
23/07/20 Bideford 0 Ilfracombe Town 1 (Friendly)
03/08/13 Bideford 2 Ilfracombe Town 0 (Friendly)
14/07/12 Ilfracombe Town 1 Bideford 3 (Friendly)
05/04/10 Bideford 2 Ilfracombe Town 2 (Western League Prem)
02/01/10 Ilfracombe Town 0 Bideford 1 (Western League Prem)
16/12/08 Bideford 0 Ilfracombe Town 1 (Western League Prem)
23/09/08 Ilfracombe Town 1 Bideford 2 (Western League Prem)
20/11/07 Ilfracombe Town 2 Bideford 4 (Western League Prem)
02/10/07 Bideford 1 Ilfracombe Town 1 (Western League Prem)
29/11/05 Bideford 2 Ilfracombe Town 1 (St Luke’s QF)