Sidmouth Warriors Under-11s saw off Dawlish at St Johns, beating the South Devon side 4-1 in an Exeter and District Youth League match.

It was great simply getting out onto the pitch for some competitive home football for the Warriors who have endured several weeks of away matches and waterlogged pitches of late!

Playing up the slope and against the wind in the first half, Warriors gave as good as they got against a powerful, and confident, Dawlish side.

Indeed, it was Dawlish who scored first during a period of play in which Warriors had spurned a number of opportunities to net the first goal of the game themselves.

Warriors hit back and when a Charley Turley effort was deflected wide, the ensuing corner fell to Ben Elsom who struck the sweetest of volleys to restored parity.

The remainder of the first half produced end-to-end football with the Warriors defender Callum French at the heart of a terrific defensive effort in front of an organised Anthony Nita in goal and half-time arrived with no further goals at either end.

Warriors began the second half brightly. Dev Nair, later to be named Man of the Match, took charge of the middle third of the pitch and, as a result, Warriors saw more and more of the ball.

It was Nair who popped up to finally unlock the Dawlish defence and give Warriors a 2-1 lead.

Further raids were rebuffed with the Dawlish goalkeeper making a string of excellent saves.

The visitors then hit back with a clinical break and slick finish to leave things tied up at 2-2 with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Warriors made some changes and found a new gear and, when Jamie Pitter worked himself some space he looked up before drilling the ball beyond the glovesman to restore the Warriors lead.

There was still time for Thomas Nicholls to power home a trademark header at a corner to complete the scoring.