Sidmouth Town Reserves returned to winning ways with a hard-earned 3-2 victory on their first ever trip to Perry Street and Yonder.

The home side showed themselves to be a neat outfit that tried to play football the correct way and what the two teams served up was an entertaining contest that could have gone either way right until the final whistle

Bolstered by the return of regular starters, the Vikings took the lead when Ben Goodier whipped in a free-kick that seemed to evade everyone before nestling in the far corner of the hosts’ net!

Skipper Damien Armes then did an impression of Spurs Harry Kane by trying to claim the goal, insisting it brushed his hair!

Town pressed, but couldn’t add to their tally as Perry Street kept the ball on the ground and tried to pick their way through a well marshalled Viking defence in which Matt Colson and Ben Miller were prominent.

Parity was restored just minutes into the second half when a fine through-ball unlocked the Vikings defence and the injured Adam Bartlett was helpless as he was left one on one with the hosts winger.

With Perry Street and Yonder now in the ascendency Town needed to dig deep, and they did just that. A lightning-quick counter, started from their own penalty are, ended with a Mark Burdus flicked header that Ferenc Bodor gathered before volleying home from 20 yards out.

To their credit, the hosts came back at Town and, from a free-kick awarded outside the area, the ball was drilled into the Town net with 15 minutes left.

Bartlett made a great save to deny the hosts a third before Tom Moore rifled in the winning goal from outside the box.

Town joint boss Paddy Thomas said: “This was a really impressive display from our young team. It does make a massive difference to the side with the return of a few regulars.

“The last two games have been tough to take for the players as they are left wondering what has been happening regarding team selection.

“Perry Street were a decent side and we will have to play well on Wednesday night when we host the return fixture.”

That Wednesday night Manstone Lane game kicks off at 7.30pm.