EACH of Teignbridge’s Peninsula League and Western League sides are in midweek action tonight, with particular focus on a Teignbridge derby as Bovey Tracey visit Newton Abbot Spurs.

Both sides seek redemption following losses on Saturday and are looking to get points on the board early to kick-start their respective campaigns.

Spurs come into the clash in 12th with four points from their opening three. Two successive ties against table-topping sides has yielded three points after a win over Okehampton Argyle preceded defeat to Axminster Town on Saturday.

Spurs boss Marc Revell said of Saturday’s loss: ‘It was a tough fixture between two top sides and it brought us down to Earth after last week’s game against Okehampton, which was always going to be one of the risks of such a good result.

‘‘If we play every game like we did against Okehampton we won’t lose a game, but the fact we’ve drawn and lost one tells you we can’t perform consistently enough just yet.’

Early signs suggest Revell’s side can look to James Moxon for goals again this season. Following 24 in 32 appearances last season, Moxon netted one goal and selflessly set up a second against Okehampton. The talismanic striker drew a blank against high-flying Axminster but is certainly the man to keep an eye on on Tuesday.

Bovey Tracey have endured a rocky start to the season. An opening-day win at Cullompton Rangers has been followed by two successive losses, a win and a third loss. The Moorlanders will be looking to steady the ship but face a tough task having lost to Spurs in both meetings last season.

Wingers and sprightly youngsters will be a focus for Bovey Tracey, who have scores of versatile wide men at their disposal. Lone striker Ollie Aplin has fed off the service of his flankers in the early stages of the season, and he has returned two-thirds of Bovey’s goals with four from five games.

Spurs gaffer Revell said: ‘Form, league positions and expectation goes out the window. You get dragged down sometimes in a derby and in a closely-fought local game that you kind of forget everything about yourself.

‘We just need to concentrate on the job [tonight], and that means getting back to winning ways and putting in another performance like Okehampton and forgetting who the opponent is.

‘If we treat everyone like they’re Okehampton and play like that then we have got nothing to worry about.

Elsewhere, Buckland Athletic face the gruelling task of a trip to Shepton Mallet, in a tie that sees sixth place pitted against seventh.

Shepton are one of just two sides in the Western League with a 100 per cent record, having won each of their opening three. The Mallet have fallen behind on their league schedule as their involvement in the FA Cup continues.

In league action, the Mallet have been ruthless. An opening-day win over Street was complimented by two further wins, both coming as 2-0 home victories, against Ashton & Blackwell United and Barnstaple Town. In fact, Shepton Mallet’s last home defeat came in a 4-2 defeat to Tavistock - who would end up promoted from the division - back in November 2021.

Buckland have enjoyed a great start to their campaign with three wins from their opening four. But the Bucks are unproven on the road, having had only one away game across all competitions. The Newton Abbot side thrashed Ilfracombe Town 4-0 last time out in league play but have since been dumped out of the FA Cup as Southern League Division One side Frome Town comfortably beat them 3-0 at Homers Heath.

Ahead of the 150-mile round trip, Buckland boss Dan Hart said: ‘It’s another tough game - they all are in this division.

‘I expect nothing but a real physical clash and I know that Shepton Mallet have got some real ability to combine with that so I expect it to be a game in which we will have to be at our best. We’ll have to raise our level back to where it was when we faced Ilfracombe and several other games earlier in the season to get a positive result and to get a win away from home.

Hart is convinced that Saturday’s defeat will not play on the minds of his players.

‘I think their mentality will be clean by then,’ he said. ‘I know it only leaves us a few days but the biggest thing for me is that the players at this level have go the mentality to go again and to reset their minds and to put all they’ve got into Tuesday night and also learn their lessons.

‘[We need to] keep those negative thoughts from [Saturday’s] game and channel them into a positive performance on Tuesday night.’

Teignmouth also take to the road on Tuesday night as they pay a visit to Sidmouth Town’s Manstone Lane.

Sidmouth have only played twice this term but netted three times on both occasions, firstly in a 3-1 win over Plymouth Marjon and then in a 3-3 draw away to Torridgeside. Sidmouth is a tough place to go, and they have no fallen to a home defeat since December of last year. Will Jenkins leads the way in Sidmouth’s scoring charts with three goals fro two appearances.

The Teigns are thriving on their return to the South West Peninsula League as they sit in fourth with nine points from four games. Their only wobble came a week ago on a visit to Bovey Tracey, when they were beaten 3-1.

But gaffer Liam Jones put things right on Saturday as Teignmouth bounced back to a dominating 3-0 win over Elmore. Ash Donohue is back in the team tonight after missing two of his side’s four matches to date. Donohue is the man to look to for goals, having chalked up a hat-trick in Teignmouth’s 3-2 thrilling comeback win against Marjon on opening day and scored his fourth of the campaign against Elmore.

With a difficult period ahead of his side, Jones said: ‘We play Tuesday and we also play Friday so we’ve got three games in six days, and it’ll be a real tough week with two on the road.

‘We’ve just got to make sure that firstly we go to Sidmouth and we’re hard to beat and we work hard. I don’t know much about them but the results have picked up since the Ottery [St Mary] lads arrived so we just need to go there and do what we can without a football before we determine what we then do with the football.’

Each game kicks off at 7.30pm.