It’s the start of a new year at the Sports Ground and our first visitors are Paulton Rovers in Division One South. Not unlike Bideford, Paulton’s season has been very hit and miss. They come into the game on New Year’s Day off the back of three straight defeats which has seen them drop to 16th in the league. Rovers are more than capable on their day though and proved that just a few weeks ago with a win over high flying Yate Town and an excellent 5-3 victory at Cirencester. Bideford have bounced back from five straight league defeats and now have three wins in their last four outings in all competitions. The terrific comeback win over AFC Totton was backed up by a 4-1 Boxing Day victory over neighbours Barnstaple Town.

Form Guide

Paulton Rovers’ last six (WWDLLL) Pos 16th W6 D2 L11 Pts 20
29/12/18 Paulton Rovers 0 Cinderford Town 1 (League)
26/12/18 Paulton Rovers 2 Street 4 (League)
22/12/18 Thatcham Town 1 Paulton Rovers 0 (League)
15/12/18 Paulton Rovers 2 Highworth Town 2 (League)
08/12/18 Cirencester Town 3 Paulton Rovers 5 (League)
01/12/18 Paulton Rovers 1 Yate Town 0 (League)

Bideford’s last six (LLWDWW) Pos 14th W7 D4 L8 Pts 25
26/12/18 Barnstaple Town 1 Bideford 4 (League)
22/12/18 Bideford 3 AFC Totton 2 (League)
15/12/18 Winchester City 2 Bideford 2 (League)
11/12/18 Wimborne Town 1 Bideford 2 (League Cup R3)
08/12/18 Bideford 0 Thatcham Town 1 (League)
01/12/18 Cinderford Town 4 Bideford 2 (League)

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 and in 2017/18 they ended up 19th. 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:
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)
08/05/04 Bideford 1 Paulton Rovers 0 (Les Phillips Cup Final)
03/04/04 Bideford 0 Paulton Rovers 0 (Western Premier)
02/03/04 Paulton Rovers 4 Bideford 3 (Western Premier)