By Chris Wright
Football can be a bittersweet pursuit at the best of times, but Barnstaple Town manager Barry Yeo tasted both the ecstasy and the agony within a split-second of one another recently while celebrating his team’s recent Western League First Division title win.
Seeing their 37-game unbeaten run come to an end, Barnstaple actually lost 1-0 to Oldland Abbotonians at the weekend but results elsewhere guaranteed them the title.
Sadly however, Yeo did himself a bit of a mischief while jumping around in the dressing room to celebrate winning the league.
In fact, the Barnstaple boss actually shredded his Achilles tendon, which left him unable to walk and requiring emergency surgery.
“I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Yeo told BBC Sport.
“In the changing room my assistant said Welton had drawn and we’d secured the league, so we all sprung off the benches chanting.
“As I’m jumping up and down I felt a pop in the back of my Achilles and thought ‘what have I done here?”
Yeo, 35, was then taken to hospital to have surgery on his ankle, meaning that he missed Barnstaple’s 1-0 win over Almondsbury UWE on Tuesday evening – their penultimate fixture of the season.
Indeed, it looks like he’s going to be out of action – at least as far as mucking in during training, etc – for the next six months.
“I’m not going to lie, if it was someone else I’d be laughing and joking with the rest of them,” said Yeo.
“I actually didn’t go up to the hospital until Monday. Now I’m here drugged up with my leg in plaster.
“The amount of stick given to me has been incredible, but it’s all good fun.”
Should Barnstaple win their final game of the season against Devizes Town they’ll win the league with 100 points to their name.
There’s also a league/cup double on the cards too, with an outing in the Les Phillips Cup Final against Willand Rovers coming up on 10th May.
“I’ll be at the presentation on Saturday, there’s no doubt about that,” Yeo added.
Here’s hoping he takes it easy this time. Winning the double might just be enough to finish him off.
(Photo: Barnstaple Town FC)