Alphington 0, Sidbury United 2 After two poor results in their previous two outings United returned from Exeter with all three points.

What made the result all the more impressive was that the only other side to defeat the Alphas this term have been table topping Elmore.

Availability woes left United travelling with a bare 11 players .

The early morning rain had ensured the playing surface at Alphington was in top condition, perfect for the passing game that United enjoy to play.

The opening 20 minutes saw both sides’ defences on top. When the home strikers did threaten they got little change out of the impressive defensive pairing of Ben Woolley and Richard Bacon.

The deadlock was finally broken on the half hour. The home side had a corner that was cleared at the near post. Ash Small took the ball on and weaved past a couple of players before passing to skipper Seldon who, in turn, played a defence-splitting pass to striker Adam Connett who rifled the ball home from the edge of the area.

The response was good from the home side and within five minutes Ben Wooley (named the Oakdown Man of the Match) was at his best to deny a striker who was over zealous in the challenge and received a yellow card for his actions!

Sidbury should have made it two before half-time when Small was through , but he dragged his shot wide.

After the break a second yellow card to the home striker reduced Alphington to ten men for the final thirty minutes.

Sidbury took charge and a second goal arrived with Connett again the scorer, this time after the home keeper had worked some magic to keep out a Dave Green effort only for the ball to fall invitingly to Connett who made no mistake.

United boss Jeremy Schofield said: “That was very pleasing, both the performance and the result. We spoke before kick-off and alluded to the fact that the performance was not as important as the result. The previous week’s defeat meant we had to win and everyone pulled together showing great character. With a couple of home games to come now we are in a good place.”