Sidmouth Warriors Under-12s were in great form as they brushed aside the challenge of Exeter Spitfires to make progress through to the second round of the Exeter and District Youth League KO Cup.

As former winners of this competition the Sidmouth boys always set out to impress and arrived with the hope of kick starting their season after some tough opening league fixtures.

It wasn’t long before the Warriors found an opening in the Exeter teams defence and Finn Upsher was able to tuck away his first of the season, the early goal allowed the Sidmouth team a chance to relax and play some excellent football in the early stages. Michal Bielawski scored after a trademark burst of speed into the box before Upsher added another and Dev Nair found himself on the end of some good passing moves to slot two past the keeper. The half ended with a sublime run from left back Tom Cload, finished with a beautiful lobbed shot over the keeper which sailed into the back of the net.

Despite the deficit the Spitfires came back in the second half and were rewarded with an early goal, but the revival was short-lived, and, with captain Callum French encouraging his team forward, Charley Turley added Sidmouth’s eighth goal.

The Sidmouth boys were finding a large amount of possession, Man of the Match Ben Elsom slotting pass after pass through the Spitfires defence before grabbing his second goal and putting the game to bed. The half closed out with Thomas Fletcher adding a goal before Finn Upsher was able to fire in from close range and grab himself a well-deserved hat-trick.