IVYBRIDGE Town FC romped to the South West Peninsula Premier Division East title last year, finishing ahead of second by a whopping 26 points.
Very little separated the rest of the top half but Ivybridge will play in the Western League Premier this time around after achieving such success.
At the other end of the table, Dartmouth AFC were relegated having won just two league games all season, dropping down to the Devon Football League as a result.
It was like chalk and cheese for the pair last season but now they will both be hopeful of a strong 2024/25 in their respective divisions.
Wayne Gamble, one-half of Ivybridge’s managerial duo, described their pre-season as “very positive” but pointed out that “It counts for nothing as we have found in our first two games”, losing to Bridgwater United and Barnstaple Town without scoring a goal of their own.
“Three very encouraging signings” have come through the door at Erme Valley, perhaps the most notable of the trio is the returning Ollie Aplin. He won the Golden Boot in a Bovey Tracey shirt last year and certainly knows where the back of the net is. Gamble spoke of Aplin “Hitting the ground running”, scoring numerous goals during pre-season which could well be a sign of things to come.
Also joining is defender Sam Hillson from Ernesettle FC, who has “massive experience, won numerous pieces of silverware” and “is an absolute snip in today’s market. Thirdly, Steven Rogers who was described as a “Serious talent [who] hasn’t played for a while, but this is definitely his standard and is one to keep an eye out for.”
On the flipside, Gamble was quite bold on the topic of departures saying this: “People who leave this club, their careers falter so I don’t focus” on them.
In terms of goals and priorities, the Ivybridge boss said that “Cup runs are nice but the league is your bread and butter and that playoffs are the bare minimum, whilst “they also need to enjoy themselves but not get [him] the sack”!
Moving over to Dartmouth and manager Robbie Bowker made no bones about it: “We are aiming high, we want to bounce straight back to the Peninsula League.”
There are off to a good start in this pursuit as “Preparations have gone really well”, after “stripping the team apart and adding a lot of players.”
Their league campaign will begin tomorrow as Topsham Town visit Longcross. “Seven or eight new faces” have been added to the Dartmouth ranks with several players departing as well so the side will look very different as they attempt to right the wrongs of last year.
“New, ambitious and young” are the three words that Bowker would use to describe his group whereas Gamble went for “Loyal, punctual and well-dressed”. It will be fascinating to see how both teams acclimatize to new levels of football with fixtures set to come thick and fast.