NEWTON Abbot 66 got their hands on two trophies last season and they were achieved in very different circumstances.

Tom Lowe scored the only goal for 66 as they knocked off Ilsington Villa in the final of the Herald Cup. They were then beaten, just a week later, at the final stage of the George Belli Cup.

Elburton Villa won 2-1 at Foxhole, only for that result to be overturned due to the fielding of an ineligible player, giving Spurs the cup double of dreams.

This time around, the South Devon Football League season began with a Charity Shield clash between 66 and Ilsington Villa of all teams. Liam Ashwell gave Newton 66 the lead at Homers’ Heath, the home of Buckland Athletic, but Villa hit back through Luke Pilkington and Dan Langford and held on for the win.

66 manager Ian Clenahan is taking the positives from this match though, saying this: it “Gives me huge confidence in that if we can maintain our positive attitude, we will be tough to beat by any team.”

He continued, “I thought it was a game fought by two evenly matched teams on the day… We have to be happy to live with Ilsington who wiped the floor with most (including us) in the league last year.”

In that one, 66 were “Considerably under-strength with five starters missing”.

Looking back at pre-season and the Newton Abbot-based team “Started later than a lot of teams due to not finishing [their] season until May 30th”, as a result, Clenahan “Gave the lads six weeks off so they therefore, didn’t start pre-season until the latter part of July.”

They are clearly a determined and motivated bunch under Clenahan, he told the Mid-Devon Advertiser that they “Had a really productive first team squad meeting last week, where we sat and discussed expectations and gave ourselves targets as a club, a team and as individual players.”

Off-seasons can be so disruptive regarding players coming and going, and this is particularly relevant in local football. This wasn’t quite the case for 66, who are “Very lucky in that we haven’t lost anyone from our squad this season but also managed to sign a couple of quality players who will hopefully improve” them.

The “Aim is to improve on last season in every competition so targets have been set”, and there is no plan to focus solely on the league campaign.

Lastly, Clenahan chose the following three words to describe his group: “Together, determined and fun.”

Newton Abbot 66 will cross paths with the other Villa, Elburton, to get their latest South Devon Football League campaign underway. This fixture will kick off at 14:30 at Elburton, on Saturday August 31.