A goal two minutes from time gave Sidmouth Town a deserved share of the spoils in their home meeting with Appledore, a contest that saw six goals.

Town started the game on the front foot and were surprised that the normally attack minded visitors were in defensive mode which invited the Vikings to attack them.

The opening goal duly arrived in the 20th minute when a terrific pass from James Clampin found the feet of striker Jamie Orchard and the Devon Under-18 hitman got himself between the ball and the on-rushing goalkeeper. The glovesman was deemed to have gone through the back of Orchard and a spot kick was awarded and teenage skipper Jamie Newbery rifled the penalty home.

Town, with wingers Cody Bowditch and Jack Harwood causing the visitors all kinds of problems continued to dominate the first half, but they had to wait until the 43rd minute before they could finally, and deservedly, double their lead.

A cross was delivered into the Appledore area and Bowditch rose to head the ball home in-off the crossbar. The visiting lines person showed a great bit of sportsmanship as he flagged for the goal as the referee was unsure if it had crossed the line.

Appledore deserve a huge amount of credit for the way they read the game during the break to change completely their game plan and, from the restart, they switched to an all-out attack style which paid dividends!

Just three minutes into the second half Matt Cann volleyed a powerful effort from a tight angle past the helpless Dan Stapleton in the home goal. The visitors continued to dominate and Sidmouth were hanging on and it was no surprise when the scores were levelled courtesy of a 64th minute goal from Brian Levein.

Eleven minutes later the North Devon side had turned the game on its head to lead 3-2 when Levein took the ball off Clampin and riffled past Stapleton.

Sidmouth showed some real resolve and belief as clearly the visitors thought that they had won the game and stepped off the gas and this gave Sidmouth some hope.

With five minutes to play Town’s experienced defender Neil Pointing received his marching orders for a second bookable offence. However, this did not deter Town and they continued to search for an equaliser.

It arrived in the 88th minute when Town Man of the Match Ryan Davies was afforded too much room on the edge of the area from where he curled the sweetest of strikes into the net.

Town team: Stapleton, Pointing, Newbery (C), Clampin, Wellman, Bowditch, Davies, Antat, Harwood, Binion & Orchard. Used Subs: Clenahan, Badcott and White. Unused: Lines