Two goals in each half enabled Winchester City to reach the second round proper of the FA Trophy for the first time and bring their number of goals scored in this season's FA Trophy to nine which is their joint best for an FA Trophy campaign with both Tommy Wright and I K Hill having each scored of them.  They became one of six clubs from the National League South to progress to the second round with Chertsey Town, Havant And Waterlooville, AFC Totton, Hanwell Town and Gosport Borough being the others.  They were one of only two clubs with Felixstowe being the other to score four or more goals both in this round and the previous round of the FA Trophy.

It was their second visit to Tavistock and their fourth visit to Devon this season and three of their four visits to this county in the current campaign have produced both a victory and a clean sheet.  The only slight downside on the day was that elsewhere in Devon, Tiverton Town used their game in hand to beat Poole Town to move above Winchester City and out of the relegation zone, but Winchester will be hoping that they can build on this success which their loyal band of travelling fans made an important contribution to when they return to league action when they travel to play Hanwell Town on Saturday.

AFC Tavistock reached this stage of the competition after beating Larkhell Athletic, North Leigh and Horndean. AFC Tavistock has played 6 league games winning 2 and losing 4, and currently sits in 16th place in Southern League Division 1 South.

With Danny King, Jordan Rose, Callum Buckley, Kieran Douglas, Dom Panesar-Dower, and Dan Bartlett all either injured or ill, Winchester bought in a couple of on-loan signings in full-backs Harry Hutchinson and Dan Bradshaw. Hutchinson, who played against us for Poole last season, joins us on loan from Dorchester for whom he was on the substitutes bench when they played Winchester earlier in the season.

Dan Bradshaw, who joins us from Farnborough, is no stranger to Winchester fabs having played for the club in both 2020/21 and 2021/22 when for the majority of the time he was dual registered with Eastleigh. He made three National League appearances for Eastleigh as a substitute in the 2022/23 season and played against Winchester for Beaconsfield last season.

With Josh McCormick also unavailable, Bradshaw, who mostly played in midfield in his first spell at the club, took over the right-back role, while Hutchinson took over as left-back with Alex Wilkie moving to centre-back and Harry Nevins dropping to a bench which also included Simba Mlambo. Substitute goalkeeper Ryan Pryce and a couple of youngsters in Harry Magro and Oscar McCulloch both of whom had played for the under-23 team against AFC Stoneham the previous Thursday.

Early on Mark Jamison headed just wide following a corner, while at the other end, Dan Bradshaw made an important block to keep the home team out.  Winchester had a great chance to take the lead when a good ball from Luka Chalwell found Dan Jones whose effort was well saved by Tavistock goalkeeper Aaron Dearing with his feet.  However, midway through the half  Winchester took the lead when Dearing could only parry an effort from Jones into the pat of I K Hill who was able to put the ball away.

Winchester however had a good chance to increase their lead when a penalty was awarded for a foul on Hutchinson, but on this occasion, goalkeeper Luke Cairney who had converted the last two penalties Winchester had been awarded on this occasion had a spot kick well saved by Dearing.  However, on this occasion, Deering made a good save from Cairney's spot kick. Tavistock's relief was short-lived though as shortly afterwards a good play on the left-hand side enabled I K Hill to set up Barron to score the second.

The home team tried hard to get back in the game, but Winchester were 2-0 ahead at the interval. Early in the second half, Tommy Wright had an effort well saved by Dearing, but then Tiverton's Wright got in the action when Ethan Wright, a recent signing from Saltash United, provided a cross which resulted in Luke Steer's header hitting the post.

Winchester did score their third goal just before the hour mark when a ball from Luke Cairney found Tommy Wright who produced a good finish to score his fourth goal in the FA Trophy this season.  It has been a significant week for players with the name Tommy Wright as former Everton and England fullback Tommy Wright who played alongside probably Tavistock's most famous former player Mike Trebilcock in the 1966 FA Cup final celebrated his 80th birthday.

Tavistock by this stage had made three substitutions and Alex Wilkie made an excellent interception to keep them out.  However, Winchester scored their fourth goal in the 70th minute following a good team move where Hutchinson set up I K Hill who completed his second brace in this season's FA Trophy.

With a four-goal lead, Winchester replaced Jamie Barron and double goalscorer I K Hill with Harry Nevins and Simba Mlambo.  A few minutes later Winchester also brought on Magro and McCulloch in place of Ollie Griggs and Dan Jones to provide valuable experience for the youngsters.  Towards the end, Tavistock applied some pressure in search of a consolation goal, but Winchester were defending solidly and Cairney did not have a save of note to make in the remainder of the game which included 8 minutes of added-on time.

Winchester are away to Hanwell on Saturday