Offwell quick to punish Sidbury mistakes

This was Sidbury Utd Reserves first home game of the season in League 4 after promotion last year.

Sidbury Utd 1, Offwell 2

This was Sidbury Utd Reserves' first home game of the season in League 4 after promotion last year.

They were up against a good Offwell side who also won their first league game and narrowly missed out on promotion to league 3 last year, so Sidbury expected a very tough game.

From the first whistle, Sidbury soon realised how tough it was going be as Offwell started well and,, for most of the half the home side were pinned back as the gap between the Sidbury attack and midfield was just too big.

But, in a half where Offwell had 80 per cent of possession, there were no saves for either keeper to make, mostly down to the Sidbury back three of Selley, Squance and new signing Dave Clare, who was also Sidbury's best player. At half time, manager Jeremy Schofield decided to change shape and give Sidbury the chance for all three points as he felt the constant pressure would eventually lead to Offwell scoring.

It worked as Sidbury looked a different side in the second half and had most the ball and created the better chances.

But 10 minutes in, a individual error by the Sidbury keeper saw him throw the ball across his box to the unsuspecting full back who had time just to stick a leg out before being robbed and the striker struck the ball into an empty net. Another mix up caught the keeper in nomansland and Offwell scored. Sidbury were in complete control apart from the errors and, eventually, Luke Wooding scored a great volley from 18 yards after constant pressure by the home side.

They kept creating chances, keeping Offwell pinned right back, but a late clearance off the line saw their hopes of a point vanish.

Schofield said: "It was a hard lesson, as, last year, they might have got away with silly errors but, the higher you go, the more you are made to pay for mistakes.