Sidmouth Town Under-15s defeated visiting West Exe Rangers by the odd goal in seven.

With no referee available it was left to Jon Miller – who had been working with one of the Sidmouth younger groups – to step in and take the whistle.

There is a lack of football surfaces in the area and so the pitch that was used had already had seen action on a wet and windy day and so the surface was on the muddy side before a ball was kicked by the Under-15s!

Despite the conditions the home side began well and raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to a terrific strike Ben Goodier that was followed soon after by a Louis Spalding goal – his chance coming when the visiting defence could only part block a Goodier free-kick.

West Exe hit back with a goal on the break and threatened to level, but were denied by a super save from home glovesman Tom Moore.

Max Peacock headed a corner home to restore the home two-goal margin, but some poor Sidmouth defending was punished as the Exeter side struck their second.

The second half was a bit of a war of attrition. Neither side could really get into their stride and the game became littered with niggly fouls as temperatures started to rise!

Sam Fernley took the goalkeeping gloves for the second half and made a number of fine saves before being beaten by a long-range strike that saw the away side level with 10 minutes remaining.

A draw looked the most likely result, despite the efforts of Tom Moore, now on pitch, and Spalding, in particular.

However, there was time still for Spalding to play a delightful ball into Matt Salter who took it in his stride and fired it beyond the West Exe ‘keeper to win the game!