Stoke Gabriel U18 - 4:1 - Sidmouth Town Vikings U18

On Sunday, 15th September, the Sidmouth Vikings U18s travelled to Stoke Gabriel, to play their second match of the season. Against the memory of the baptism of fire last week, spirits were high nonetheless as the team took to the pitch.

From the first minute of the game, Sidmouth were looking extremely well organised with Jake Lucas and Will Price dominating the midfield. With around ten minutes having been played, Will Sanders did some great battling to get behind the defenders. His hard work certainly paid off, as the ball was deflected back to Joe Gosse, who neatly chipped the keeper from just outside of the box to put the Vikings in the lead. Sidmouth kept it this way for the whole first half due to some great defending from Rob Mansfield and Matty Allen. Behind the two Sidmouth Centre backs, Jake Harrison in goal was having one of his best ever games pulling off some fantastic saves as the rattled Stoke Gabriel team sought an equaliser.

After half time, Sidmouth came out strongly again with James Orchard having his shot saved by the excellent Slovenian U18 goalkeeper. Stoke came back at Sidmouth and eventually found a gap in the Sidmouth defence to score an equaliser. Sidmouth refused to ease up and a goal mouth scramble that which could of changed the outcome of the game, resulted in Rob Mansfield putting the ball across the line. Bizarrely, this was disallowed as the referee first looked to allow the goal, then gave way to some misguided protests from the Stoke team. Sidmouth were the team on the front foot with more chances coming from Sam Gosling and Barney Stone as the goal posts continued to be rattled but the ball stubbornly refused to cross the line.

A battered Sidmouth team eventually gave way after suffering continued heavy and at times desperate tackling. Two yellow cards were issued against the Stoke team, including one particularly dangerous and cynical tackle on Mathew Allan that would have been an automatic Red in any other game. Stoke Gabriel somehow managed to put three more past the valiant Sidmouth team in the last 15 minutes to produce a scoreline that even the Stoke manager agreed did not reflect the game. Callum Bray was awarded a deserved man of the match, but the whole team looked winners on this performance, and it will only be a matter of time before this newly formed squad gets a deserved win!

Muddy Boots

On Sunday the 22 September, Sidmouth Town Vikings U 18's travelled to Torquay in a match that Sidmouth really wanted to win, following a fine 3:3 draw in the week at Crediton.

On arrival, it became immediately clear that the pitch was not up for the job being too small; an issue confirmed by the Referee for the day. Coupled with this, there was an unacceptable steep slope from left to right which had caused the grounds-man to build up the goal mouths to create a flat area which resulted in one side of each goal mouth having 5 inch drop on the edge of the box.

The Pitch condition and the cramped space made open play difficult from the off, but the two outside centre half’s took the game to Apollo, and started to test the defence with probing attacks. Possession was kept with Sidmouth for long periods as the strong Sidmouth defence soaked up Apollo’s counter attacks and the ball was repeatedly sent back into the Apollo half. Mid-fielders, Will Jenkins and CJ Bray made some spirited runs to continue probing a solid Apollo defence which had them beaten, only to see the ball shot wide. As the first 45 minutes closed, the hard work paid off with a Joe Griffith's long throw which was sent into the box for Joe Gosse to head the ball into the net.

Sidmouth took their 1-0 lead into the second 45 minutes of play with Apollo coming out more strongly. Their play was more physical as they pressed the Sidmouth defence with a strident determination. Apollo took more possession from Sidmouth but Rob Mansfield and Matty Allen continued to defend well. This allowed Sidmouth to set up counter attacks that unfortunately came to little. Jake Harrison in goal proved his worth, despite very difficult conditions making ball control almost impossible in the box. After 65 minutes of play, Apollo eventually managed to score with a goal that took advantage of the awful pitch condition. Sidmouth responded well, and continued to create some more chances towards the end of the second half. It was unfortunate that the pitch then cruelly claimed it's first victim as Joe Gosse had to retire from the game with nasty ankle strain.

Apollo scored a late goal to make the score 2-1 but the Sidmouth Under 18s worked extremely hard throughout to the end. A fine cross from James Orchard was narrowly missed by the replacement striker, Liam Morrish. This was quickly followed by an unfortunate incident of flailing arms which struck Liam in jaw with a sufficient force that he too had to leave the pitch. The match ended 2:1 which was a cruel result for Sidmouth who looked clearly the better team on the day. Rob Mansfield won the Man of the Match award due to some excellent defending, but overall it was a great performance by the whole team. Apollo will find the return match at Sidmouth a hard contest, and Sidmouth's more fluid play will take advantage of the superior full sized pitch at Manstone.

Muddy Boots

Sidmouth welcomed Brixington to Manstone as past battles were remembered against the old foe. Despite this, spirits were high, and the game started with both sides probing each other's defence for openings.

Sidmouth’s back four appeared strong, with Matty Allen and Rob Mansfield both providing a solid wall in the middle of the defence. In the midfield, Sidmouth looked as if they had the equal of Brixington and it wasn't long before a fine run from CJ Bray laid on a goal scoring opportunity for on form, Joe Gosse. Will Jenkins and Sam Gosling both looked as if they had the opposition under control in the first 30 minutes and it was against the run of play that Brixington then broke through and scored their first goal. Sidmouth came back strongly and after fine run from Will Jenkins, Joe Gosse broke through to score the equaliser.

Sidmouth continued to look dangerous in attack but a couple of midfield errors were quickly seized upon by Brixington, who were denied goals by fine saves from Dec Lines. As the last five minutes of the first half came, Sidmouth broke again with a combination of passes started by Will Sanders and assisted by Will Jenkins and Will Price who successfully put the ball into the box, resulting in Sidmouth's second goal.

The second half had obviously led to some serious team talk from the animated Brixington boss who changed his formation to 3 at the front. Sidmouth didn't react quickly enough to this, and the midfield were unable to stop a number of probing runs which were left to the defence and Dec Lines to salvage. Eventually, Brixington broke through again, and were awarded a penalty after Matty Allen narrowly missed the ball as the last line in defence. Brixington scored from the penalty spot.

Tired legs needed some substitutions after Will Price and Sam Gosling had given their all. For a further 10 minutes Brixington repeatedly attacked Sidmouth to be denied goals by continued fine performances from the Defence. Finally Brixington found an opening, and again punished Sidmouth with another fine goal. Initially this spurred Sidmouth on, and after a goal mouth scramble, Sidmouth were awarded a penalty which was converted by Will Jenkins. Despite this, Brixington came back strongly and with the Sidmouth team having given everything they had, Brixington scored two late goals to make the final score 3:5.

Brixington are a well established under 18 team and on this performance, Sidmouth can take heart as the team is now gelling together and is showing promise of better things to come. The four yellow cards issued by the Referee showed the determination from both sides but there was no ill feeling from either side at the close. The next outing is at Elburton Villa in the Wooton Cup followed by Clyst St Mary at home on the 20th October 2013. Could this be the match where Sidmouth get their first league win?

Muddy Boots

It was a damp and Thundery Sunday afternoon that heralded a match that Sidmouth was looking forward to. On the day a full squad that welcomed back Jamie Briggs into the midfield after a long injury spell, Sidmouth took to the pitch with a 4:2:3:1 formation. Mark Rose filled in for Jake Harrison and Dec Lines who were both unavailable and as the whistle blew for the start of the game, spirits were high.

Unfortunately, Sidmouth seemed to forgotten all they had learned at training and a series of errors defensively led to a quick goal from Clyst Valley. This was followed up by another goal from the excellent No 11 in the Clyst team who seemed capable of taking on the whole defence on his own. Mark Rose pulled off some good saves but when the decisive shots came, he was unable to stop what were excellent shots.

Sidmouth continued to look indecisive and unsure of themselves as the Clyst team took full advantage. Admittedly, they looked very strong, and a series of errors led to more goals. As half time approached, and with the whistle blowing, a dejected Sidmouth team left the pitch six adrift.

A frank exchange of views in the dressing room saw a rejuvenated Sidmouth team take to the pitch in the second half and with the weather improving, so did the spirits in the Sidmouth team. At last the midfield started to feed the ball forward and some spirited play from substitutes Liam Morrish and Will Price helped to freshen up the whole team. Joe Griffiths who had stepped into a midfield role was also playing well and after 25 minutes of play, attempts to get the ball on target eventually paid off andr Will Price took the opportunity to hammer the ball at the clyst goal, taking a deflection off a Clyst defender as the ball struck the back of the net.

Meanwhile at the other end of the pitch, Mark Rose pulled off a series of excellent saves including two that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Premiere League. Eventually Clyst did manage to find a way through to score two more excellently taken goals but had Sidmouth played the first half like they did the second, then the score line could have looked a lot different.

Next week, Sidmouth take on Cullompton in the League Cup and we all hope that the lessons learnt against what was a very good team, will result in a better performance all round.

Muddy Boots