Sidmouth and Ottery ladies fourth team played with real confidence throughout on their way to a 4-2 win over Exe, writes Jane Roberts.

SOHC went into the contest with plenty to play for, the main thing being that with a win they could head into the festive break sitting fifth in the table and leap frog Exe in the process!

SOHC made a slick start and the Exe defence was put under sustained pressure.

The youngsters in the SOHC ranks certainly played their part. Emily Rudolph pushed hard in midfield and made some crucial tackles and Aimee Keast, Flora Hastie and Caitlin Perry worked tirelessly by making some driving runs with the ball to create some exciting opportunities in front of goal.

The opening came when Teresa Grabauskas threaded the ball through to Jane Roberts who opened the scoring. Parity was quickly restored and both side exchanged chances before Norma Rich found herself on the end of a ball driven in from the wing and made no mistake. That was followed by a neat passage of linking play that ended with Roberts scoring her second to send the side into the break with a 3-1 lead.

In the second half Exe started strongly, but could not get the better of an impressive SOHC back line. Exe had several short corners, but the experience of Jo Elliott, Caren Flicker, Cath Vincent and Maggie Heal paid off as their tight marking meant there was no way through.

On the odd occasion that the impressive back line was breached, SOHC goalkeeper Charlotte Brodie made some first class saves.

Exe did mange to net once more, but was to be their only second half score and a superb individual, goal from Rich was the icing on the cake as SOHC saw the game out in grand style.

Although Exe did score one more goal, Rich scored her second through a superb individual effort to give SOHC a 4-2 victory and the 5th position in the league which they are thrilled with.