The marvellous early season form for Sidbury United continued on Saturday as they made East Devon Senior Cup progress, though they had to go the extra mile to eventually ease their way into the next round, writes Steve Birley.

United boss Jeremy Schofield used the cup tie against Division One Clyst Valley as an opportunity to give game time to squad players and, for the first 45 minutes, his team miss-fired to such a degree that only a half-time ‘clear-the-air’ between the players, produced a marked improvement in the second half and an eventual extra time success.

It took just 12 minutes for Connor Hannaford to rifle a 30-yard shot home to put Unite do course for victory. However a lack-lustre home side then looked second-best for the rest of the half and went in all square after Clyst Valley slotted a 43rd minute penalty.

Despite bossing the entire 45 minutes of the second half, United, with a combination of poor finishing and some stunning goalkeeping by the Clyst Valley glovesman, were not able to find a finish.

However, all that changed in extra-time as Dan McCann slammed a hat-trick and Adam Connett completed the scoring with his first goal of the season to seal a 5-1 success.

Schofield said: “It was a funny old game! The first half was as poor a 45 minutes as I can remember from the side. What impressed me though was that, at half-time the dressing broom was like a morgue which told me the lads knew just how bad it had been. I said my bit and then left them to it. There was some paint stripped off the walls with the exchange between the player, but the clear-the-air worked for, to a man, they were awesome for every minute that remained in the contest.”

United will meet Beacon Knights at Byes Lane in the second round on Saturday, October 4.

This weekend it’s another cup tie with United again at home for the Devon premier Cup meeting with Bovey Tracey Reserves.

The South Devon side have not made the best of starts this term. Schofield says: “There’ll be no resting on our laurels. It does not matter to me what sort of form the opposition might be in. What matters is the way we play the game and, on our day, we can be match for anyone. What we need is to be on our game!”