  We investigate the case of a homogeneous tachyon field coupled to gravity in
a spatially flat Friedman-Robertson-Walker spacetime. Assuming the field
evolution to be exponentially decaying with time we solve the field equations
and show that, under certain conditions, the scale factor represents an
accelerating universe, following a phase of decelerated expansion. We make use
of a model of dark energy (with p=-\rho) and dark matter (p=0) where a single
scalar field (tachyon) governs the dynamics of both the dark components. We
show that this model fits the current supernova data as well as the canonical
\LambdaCDM model. We give the bounds on the parameters allowed by the current
data.
