Sidbury United made a flying start to the new season with a 2-0 win at Bow AAC.

Pre-match United boss Jamie Schofield had lamented the fact that his team’s pre-season had been poor and there had been a number of injuries. Such were the pre-season woes that the Byes Lane outfit pulled out of a warm-up game seven days before the Fresha League opener.

With the number one jersey vacant, United used contacts to field McCauley Joy in goal; his involvement not confirmed until 11am on match day!

With Bow having beaten United home and away last season the United boss travelled in hope rather than expectation, but he made the return journey feeling much happier with life after seeing his side deliver a stunning performance!

Schofield pulled a surprise when he sent his team out with a lone striker, but it worked a treat with the lively Danny Green taking on the role and having a trio just behind him who were operating as part of a midfield five.

The plan was to allow the home team to have as much of the ball as they liked in their own half, but the midfield five hustled and harried as soon as the home team ventured forward and then strike clinically on the break!

Eight minutes before half time Danny Green , who ran the home back line ragged all game, got to the bye line before cutting it back for Pete Grover to slot the ball home. The former Budleigh man missed the whole of last season, but, based on this performance, looks back to his old self once more.

After the break the United dominance was constant! Three times Dave Green, operating on the right side of the midfield five, got through one-on-one with the Bow glovesman only to fail to get the better of him! However, his brother Danny did find the back of the net in the 55th minute to complete the scoring.

A delighted Schofield said: “After all the worries during pre-season that was arguably one of the most satisfying performance of any United side for some time! There were two keys to this success. The first was the shape of the side. It was a new one; playing five across the middle with the lone striker is not something we have done before. However, based on this performance it’ll be getting used again! The second key factor for me was the team spirit, epitomised post-match with the new fines system. Skipper Sam Seldon has introduced a new fines system and it just seemed to spark everybody from the journey to the game to the final whistle. For the whole team to be sat ready to go a full five minutes before the due time really was a great start. In the dressing room before the game I saw a real determined spirit amongst the players and they played as if they had something to prove. I was very happy with that and hope we can see more of the same.”

Feniton were back in action last night taking on Feniton (read a report now at www.sidmouthherald.co.uk). They are without a game this weekend, but are playing on the final Saturday of the month when they take on Newton St Cyres.

So what does the United boss think of his side’s chance snow following that superb opening day success? He says: “I do think that the Fresha League Premier Division this season is going to be a close affair./ Last season we had a Tiverton Town side that dominated and ran away with it. That will not happen this season as I truly believe we’ll see a campaign where the top teams lose six, seven, even eight matches. As for us, I am sticking with what I said during our pre-season. We have lost players and are working with a new squad so I prefer to use the old cliché of: ‘taking every game as it comes’, and that’s just what we are going to do.”