Ahead of the Somerset derby, manager Scott Bartlett made three changes to his starting line-up as Jacob Jagger Cane, Sam Pearson and Luke Coulson were named from the off.

The first opportunity of the game fell Weston’s way when Max Harris’ long pass found Louis Britton, who controlled the ball on his chest before volleying just over.

Michael Smith has been providing many assists this season, and he nearly had another one when his cross was headed just over the crossbar by Coulson.

Coulson then went close again when he played a lovely one-two with Sam Pearson, and the former Bromley man was narrowly off target for a second time.

The Seagulls were playing well going down the slope and took the lead when Sam Avery’s diagonal ball towards the Taunton penalty area was headed back by Coulson to Pearson, whose terrific curling effort from 25 yards beat Frankie Phillips for his fourth goal of the season.

Unfortunately, the lead didn’t last long. Peacocks’ debutant Joe Hatch was adjudged to have been brought down by Emlyn Lewis. The referee blew his whistle before taking an age to point to the spot, but up stepped Jack Rice who struck the ball confidently into the bottom corner of the net.

HALF-TIME: Taunton Town 1-1 Weston-super-Mare AFC

The second-half was a much quieter affair compared to the half-chances and opportunities that we had seen before half-time, with a lot of the play confined to the middle third of the pitch.

The home side did get themselves into a dangerous position when ex-Weston loanee Ben Seymour got in behind The Seagulls’ defence, but his angled shot was just wide.

Weston ramped up the pressure in the last ten minutes or so, with Will Dawes looking lively almost as soon as he left the substitutes’ bench.

Firstly, he did well down the left and cut the ball back to Britton, whose shot appeared to be handled by a Taunton defender, but the officials instead deemed there was an offside against a Weston forward.

Then a few minutes later, Dawes and Britton combined as the former again cut the ball back for Britton to tap home, but The Seagulls were denied once more as Dawes was adjudged to have taken the ball over the byline, much to Weston’s obvious frustration.

Britton was in the thick of the action again, but his header from Jacob Jagger Cane’s ball into the box landed on the top of the net.

Taunton forced a corner in the last few seconds and sent goalkeeper Phillips forward, but the Weston rearguard dealt well with that threat, as both teams will now look forward to Tuesday’s replay at the Optima Stadium.

FULL-TIME: Taunton Town 1-1 Weston-super-Mare AFC (Rice pen 37′; Pearson 33′)

Weston: Harris, Smith, Avery, Lewis, Wood, Jagger Cane, Dodd, Waite (Skinner 67′), Coulson (Hicks 67′), Pearson (Dawes 83′), Britton

Unused substitutes: Glover, Pope, Woods, Salmon.

Attendance: 1,175

Man of the Match: James Dodd. Got through plenty of work in the midfield engine room with some great tackling and passing, and showed his calm authority throughout.