AS THE second half of the 2025/26 Western League season approaches, joint Ivybridge Town manager Ben Washam has confirmed that “top 10 is the target.”

Alongside Brad Gargett, Washam took over at Erme Valley from the outgoing Wayne Gamble in the summer. The pair’s success with Dobwalls FC earned them the step up and they have taken to life well at step five.

Regarding Washam’s goal of a top 10 finish, his side currently sit 13th at the time of writing, on 20 points. They have games in hand on the pair in front of them whilst the team in 10th right now, Helston Athletic have played the same amount of games and have 26 points.

Ivybridge have been faced with a lot of highs and lows thus far, ranging from a convincing win over the league leaders to several injuries and a seven-goal thrashing.

They may have conceded seven goals on one occasion but Washam and Gargett’s first league game in charge was actually a 7-0 win of their own, performing superbly well away at St Austell AFC.

Home games at Erme Valley proved difficult though- they lost the first four, conceding 15 goals and scoring just two. One of those figures is conflated due to the 7-1 defeat at the hands of Newquay AFC, a significant game in the eyes of Washam.

“The catalyst (for the recent success) was the Newquay game if I’m honest, at home, we learned a lesson.

“I think they’ve got the best front three in the league, it pains me to say that but I think they have. They taught us a real lesson and we learned from that one massively.”

A first home win of the season followed shortly after, Dan Tate scoring the only goal of the game as they edged out Brislington FC.

Town have since been much stronger in front of their own supporters and it is that Newquay hammering that has paved the way.

“Then, going into games like Bridgwater, a tough team, a well-established team, to do what we did to them just proves we can match the big boys. Torpoint in the cup, the boys were fantastic, learning all the time and Clevedon at home was another really good result.

“We’re not naïve to the fact that, sometimes, we’re going to throw in a Newquay because our group are still learning, when it’s good it’s good and when it’s bad it’s bad.”

Beyond the league campaign, Ivybridge are still going strong in the Les Phillips Cup thanks to the aforementioned 4-1 win over Torpoint Athletic, not to mention that they beat Totton & Eling on penalties in the FA Vase too, before they were eliminated by Slimbridge AFC that is.

There is plenty of learning to be done by all at Ivybridge because not only are the managers relatively new to this level of football but their youthful squad are too.

Washam “couldn’t be happier” with how these younger players have “adapted so far this season”.

Going into more detail, he said: “We’re looking to the future, we’re trying to build the club and have longevity so it’s important that we have the youngsters but they’ve obviously got to be of a certain quality. We need to get the right mix.”

They are intent on building and strengthening a pathway up and down the club, in recent weeks, a few of the U18 players have been afforded the opportunity to train with the 1st XI.

There was a feeling of trepidation for the former Ivybridge Town player when he first took over: “At the beginning, you’re always a bit nervous coming in and adapting to the league, especially as the manager, not knowing who you’re playing against and how they set up, what they do.”

Equally, “it’s a really exciting feeling” to be testing yourself at a new level and Ben, along with Brad, is “over the moon” with the team’s performances to date.

Unity as a squad is what has helped Ivybridge keep going to reach such highs: “As a group, this is what we’ve got over some teams, we’re so tight and that will really pay dividends in the end. It keeps us going.”

With Gamble’s departure in the off-season came a lot of changes on the pitch too, a whole host of senior figures moving on.

One who stayed put with the Greens though is Sam Hillson and, as a leader and “As the captain, he’s been a breath of fresh air for this group, he’s really dragging them along.”

This is a group for the future and, at the same time, they’ve performed admirably in the present with those ambitions of a top-half finish being perfectly achievable.