Cup final beckons

Sidmouth Town Under 13s have become the first Sidmouth Junior side to make their way through to the Devon Cup Final, achieved through a monumental performance against tournament favourites Marine Academy, writes Jon Miller.

The match went completely against the script as battling midfield play from Freddie King, Tyler Wellman and Joe Miller broke up the opponents’ play with the energetic Alex Stone causing problems down the left wing. His determination saw him pop up at the far post to put Sidmouth into an early lead and moments later Stone was fouled by the keeper, Freddie King stroking home the resulting penalty, 2-0 to Sidmouth!

With the strong cross wind affecting the quality of play the match became more of a battle. Marine peppered Nacho Sanchez’s goal with long range shots, hard to measure in the conditions. However Sidmouth’s luck ran out with two speculative shots pulling the scores level and taking the match into extra time.

Sidmouth showed real character to deal with the disappointment of losing their lead.

Roel Ruigrok, Ed Doble, Billy Rudolph, Connor Murphy and Jack De Winton maintained the attacking threat. With a penalty shoot out looming, Freddie King’s 25 yard strike hit the back of the net to put Sidmouth in the lead.

The defensive trio, Ben Miller, Al Forsyth and Jonny Surtees directed by Jamie Newbery, held out for the remaining minutes to see the side through to the final and inflicting Marine Academy’s first defeat in three years!

?The final is on March 27, 7pm kick off at Devon FA HQ in Newton Abbot against South Devon league leaders Marldon. All support would be very welcome.

Sidmouth FC U16s 1 Pinhoe Spartans 0 (League)

The boys ‘did the double’ over the league leaders in a tight encounter at Manstone Lane.

In a game of few clear-cut chances, Sidmouth defended well and took one of the few chances that came their way, courtesy of a stunning strike from on-form top scorer Will Sanders in the second half.

The first half was a scrappy affair, as both teams struggled to get a pattern of play going. Pinhoe had two excellent wide midfielders who offered pace down the flanks, but Sidmouth’s defence of Thomas, Corrick, Griffiths and Deehan-Jackson coped well. And, when crosses did come in, they stuck in the safe hands of effervescent ‘keeper Dec Lines, whose all-round game drew praise after the match.

As the Pins grew more frustrated, Sidmouth came more into the game, with Sanders and Will Jenkins firing in decent long-range efforts.

The message at half-time was that the game was there for the taking - it was a matter of who could up their game the most. As the second half progressed, it was clear that the Sidmouth lads wanted the result more. The introduction of the quicksilver Henry Ho after 50 minutes, and a change to a more attacking formation was the spark needed. Ho immediately stretched the Pins back-line with his pace, and Sanders on the left was getting the better of his full-back when he took him on. On the hour, Sanders conjured up the moment of inspiration needed to win a tight match as he outmuscled his marker on the edge of the box and curled an absolute beauty into the top corner.

Sanders almost added a second shortly after, as he bundled in Ho’s excellent early cross, but the goal was rightly ruled out for handball. The belief in the team was there now, and the boys never looked likely to let the game slip, with excellent performances from the back-four, and with Lines an impenetrable last line of defence behind them!

The team sits in joint third place in the league and have shown a massive improvement this season in strength and determination. They are now proving a much stronger proposition defensively and are learning how to ‘grind out’ results such as this. Only dropped points against teams near the foot of the table means they aren’t challenging for the title.

Sidmouth Warriors U12s 2, Crediton 1

The Warriors started brightly with Cooke outstanding, going very close on a number of occasions, writes Simon Jones.

Warriors finally made their possession count after 20 minutes with a thunderbolt from Cooke. Buckland, Lowe and Cooke all had further chances before a 20 yarder from Lowe made it 2-0. Crediton got back into the game and only some fine goalkeeping from Perez kept them out.

The second half saw Crediton begin to get on top in midfield, again some fine goalkeeping from Perez kept them out until a great scissor kick from Crediton’s midfielder made it 2-1. This made the Warriors fight for everything and Perez and Lowe began to win back the midfield battle. Corner after corner came and went for the Warriors before a cross from Perez saw Silk put his shot over the bar. Mead, Woodruff, Hayman and Jones let nothing get through and the final whistle sounded on a 2-1 victory for Sidmouth.

Team; Ollie Perez, Matt Jones, Tom Woodruff, Kade Hayman, Joe Lowe , Jack Silk, Toby De Gruchy, Elliot Perez, Tom Cooke , Ethan Mead, Joe Buckland, Luke Tremlett and Alex Thomas.

Pinhoe Spartans 2, Sidmouth U11 Raiders 2

The Raiders deserved to win what was a very physical game which was hampered by strong winds and a lack of luck near goal, writes Martin Spiller.

The Pinhoe goalie was in fine form and any attempt at the other end by Pinhoe wassoon stopped by good defending.

Pinhoe broke through to score five minutes before half time. A goalmouth melee shortly afterwards saw the Pins’ concede handball - Thomas Moore converted the spot kick..

In the second half, Raiders controlled midfield. Louis Adey’s hard work paid off when Moore crossed to his left, to send in a second goal. With a minute to go, a corner from Pinhoe saw them score.

The raiders played a outstanding game, with only one sub and the regular goalie away.

Central City 1 STJV U9 Raiders 0

A scrappy match ended in defeat for the Raiders thanks to a well struck free kick that gave keeper Will Bond no chance, writes Alan Hallett.

Neither team really got going and chances were few and far between. Noah Raffell in defence, helped by Freddie Squire and Thomas Rowan, stopped any City moves building while at the other end the Raiders only mustered a couple of half chances.

Central United 1 STJV U9 Raiders 2

A deserved win for the Raiders in a game that saw both teams create several chances but it was the finishing of Samuel Burhop that made the difference.

Burhop opened the scoring early in the first half as the Raiders strung together a superb passing move that saw Robbie Hallett, CJ Abbott and Man of the Match Toby Whitfield exchange passes before Burhop scored. City equalised but Raiders grew in confidence and their passing improved. Whitfield won the ball on the right, worked the ball forward and Burhop jinked into the box cut inside and scored with his left foot.

STJV U9 Warriors 2, Central Utd 0

Josh Miller was Man of the Match in a great game against Central, writes Rachel Pugsley.

The first goal came from Thomas Mead who had it pushed upfield by Richie Drewett and Josh Hague. He almost got another before the break but in the second half Toby Neumegan got the second.

STJV Warriors U9s 3, Central City 0

Goalkeeper Ben Harrison had to work hard in this game. Defender Calvin Clifford ran right upfield and, with help from Harry Emmett, scored over the keeper’s head.

A superb goal from Man of the Match Mark Rogers was joined by an own goal in the second half.