Sidbury Utd 2, Honiton 2: This result means that Honiton need to beat Offwell on Wednesday by five goals to stop Sidbury playing in the final on Sunday, September 1.

Sidbury Utd 2, Honiton 2: This result means that Honiton need to beat Offwell on Wednesday by five goals to stop Sidbury playing in the final on Sunday, September 1.

In fairness, Sidbury should have wrapped the game up by half time, but Honiton were in no mood to let that happen as their determination shone through to deny the home side all the points.

It was new signing Sam Elstub who opened the scoring for Sidbury with a tremendous solo effort that saw him beat three defenders and the goalkeeper to finish in style after 10 minutes.

The score stayed that way up to the interval.

The second half was much the same with lots of possession from Sidbury but no real cutting edge.

Honiton levelled through Paul Blackmore with a fantastic strike from 25 yards following a mistake in the Sidbury defence. Sidbury restored their lead with another superb strike, again from Elstub, on 60 minutes.

A big problem for Sidbury is the way they give silly free kicks away in the wrong areas, coupled with a failure to deal with balls delivered into the box - and Honiton levelled again with 10 minutes remaining,.

Sidbury had the ball in the net again from a Ben Clay corner that went straight in. As the ball hit the net, a defender for Honiton pulled the net, causing the ball to rebound back out. The referee said he saw the player grab the net but could not see the ball cross the line, which was a bit disappointing.

Nevertheless, Honiton deserved the point for their industry throughout the game.

By Mel Coombs

Sidbury Utd 2, Honiton 2

Pearl Carter Trophy