Sidmouth Town return to league action on Saturday (January 6) and face a tough task with their opening game of 2018 taking them to a Bovey Tracey side that sit second in the table having lost fewer games than anyone in the Eastern Division – three!

It’s the first of three games in January that will really test Town for they are also tasked with Manstone Lane games against fifth-placed St Martins (January 13) and also table-topping Newton Abbot, who visit on the final Saturday of the month.

Town boss Stunell says of the trip to Bovey: “They [Bovey] are a good side, but we ran them mighty close earlier in the season (Town lost the home meeting 2-1) and I really do feel that my lads seem better suited to playing the leading teams. For some reason the bigger the opponent the better we play and I feel confident that they will put on a good show at Bovey.”

Goalkeeper Robbie Powell has been given the captain’s arm band. Stunell says of the move: “Robbie is a natural leader. He needed a couple of games to find his feet with us again after a spell at Barnstaple Town, but he’s the right man for the job in terms of wearing the arm band.”

On a wider point, Stunell says: “At the start of a new year, what I am hoping for is that we can begin to field a settled back four in front of Robbie. That said, the message on Saturday for the lads at Bovey is that the plan is for us to put the ball in the net more times than the opposition!”