Sidmouth Town Reserves were beaten by the odd goal in five when they entertained University Reserves in a Macron League Division One game at Manstone Lane on Tuesday evening.

In a keenly-contested contest it was the home side that made an early breakthrough with Scott Hughes scoring from close range after just two minutes

However, the students rallied, and were level on 15 minutes, punishing some sloppy defending from the home side.

The next 20 minutes saw the students dominate as Town couldn’t keep possession and all too frequently they were getting caught on the counter attack

Twice the away side capitalised with this tactic as the Vikings lost a bit of belief and half-time arrived with the students 3-1 to the good.

Strong words from the management at the interval did the trick for the Vikings were the dominant force throughout the second half.

They spent much of the 45 minutes camped in an around the students penalty area.

However, for all their attacking intent they could only muster one goal, scored by Rikki Pitter with 15 minutes left.

That set up a storming finish, but the game petered out with players from both sides finding it difficult to see in what were dark conditions late on!

Joint-boss Paddy Thomas said: “The lads did well with a spirited second half show, but we are all frustrated with the opening 45 minutes.

“This season has been largely positive so we should remember that a large percentage of this season’s squad had never played senior football before.

With the end of the season approaching it does seem ridiculous that the Town second team now have two weeks without a game! They return to action on April 15 with an Easter Sunday game at Exmouth Town (3pm) and then wrap up the league season with an April 29 game at Witheridge.