Sidmouth Warriors Under-15s made a winning start to the new Exeter & District Youth League season with a 2-1 win over St Martins
Lacking match fitness, an understandable bi-product of last season being ended prematurely together with the subsequent lockdown and others issues with the Coronavirus pandemic, Warriors were a little slow to get into the pace of the game.
It was St Martins who fashioned the early chances, but Warriors goalkeeper Antony Nita made a couple of excellent saves.
Having grown into the contest, Warriors took a 15th minute lead when Callum Liddle played in Ben Elsom who drilled the ball into the far corner of the net.
A key feature of the Warriors success was the large squad they had in action for this meant they could rotate at regular intervals, introducing fresh legs and energy!
One player to shine was Adam Clinch, newly signed for this season, and he added pace and aggression.
Despite being in the ascendency, Warriors were pegged back and it took some excellent defending by centre back pairing of Tom Cload and Max Nevell, which meant half-time arrived with the score still 1-1.
After the break Warriors increased the tempo and, with Thomas Nicholls dominating midfield and glovesman Nita starring in the role of ‘sweeper-keeper’ chances were rare for St Martins.
It was from a Nicholls through-ball that Elsom was able to beat the ‘off-side trap’ before running on to double his tally.
As the game wore on, Ryan Barnes came on and he was unlucky not to increase the Warriors advantage.
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