Sidmouth Junior Vikings round-up

Saturday saw Sidmouth U15s take on local rivals Colyton in a rearranged friendly. The game started at a frantic pace and within the opening five minutes Will Pulman was put through by Thomas Nichols and Pulman calmly rifled the ball past the Coly ‘keeper.

The lead, however, was short-lived with Colyton levelling almost immediately, then came a 'battling' 30 minutes before the goal was breached again, this time Nichols finding himself in space to grab the Sidmouth boys a 2-1 lead going into the half-time break.

The Sidmouth defence, notably Adam Clinch were resilient and brave in keeping their defensive line intact and with this platform Sidmouth started to dominate. Thomas Nichols netted two goals, and with that his hat-trick, within the space of 3 minutes.

The 4-1 lead deflated the Colyton team and Sidmouth were able to capitalise, Pulman cut in from the right wing to grab another trademark goal sending the ball past the ‘keeper and into the far corner, before Ben Elsom added the finishing touch as he curled the perfect free kick into the top corner of the Colyton goal to round off a superb 6-1 victory for the Vikings. Thomas Nichols, along with his hat-trick, bagged himself the man of the match award also.

Culm Sampford U14s 3-4 Sidmouth U14s

Sidmouth U14s, who remained unbeaten going into this game, travelled up the M5 to face a very strong Culm Sampford U14s side who had only lost once this season themselves.

The Vikings arrived with the sun shining down on the Whitnage Road pitch with its characteristic slope, but the surface was looking in a great condition for playing football, with the grass having been cut nice and short.

The Vikings had a couple of players missing through injury and illness from their squad of 15 and knew it was going to be important to get off to a good start to not let the physical presence of the home side intimidate them.

Unfortunately, Sidmouth got off to one of their now trademark slow starts which allowed the home side to take control of the first 15 minutes but thankfully they could not turn the possession into goals. They did create a couple of half chances but the Vikings glovesman Leo Gribble dealt with them superbly.

For the last 20 minutes of the first half, Sidmouth got going and managed to start winning the second ball and with that started to play some lovely football and take control of the game. The visitors created some great chances but somehow they could not convert them into goals as the Culm ‘keeper made several important saves and the half time whistle came with the honours even at 0-0.

The discussion at the break was about how winning those second balls had meant we were in control and that we needed to do more of the same, be patient and the goals would follow and that’s exactly what happened when some great work by the prolific front pair of Alex Goody and Sid Ridgeway saw the latter open the scoring with a shot that the keeper couldn’t reach and it found its way into the bottom corner.

The lead wasn’t to last long as Culm attacked down the left wing and whipped a lovely ball into the box where it was the home striker that reacted quickest to slot the ball past the Vikings keeper to level it at 1-1.

Conceding the equaliser seemed to give the young Vikings the desire to go on and win this game, and within minutes they were back in front with another great goal, this time from strike partner from Alexander Goody.

At this point, Ridgeway and Goody were causing the home side all sorts of problems but it was the midfield’s turn to get on the scoresheet when a great ball into the box found Herbie Isherwood at the far post who calmly placed the ball past the advancing Culm keeper and extend the Sidmouth lead to 3-1.

The back three of George Burke, Reggie Reed and Ethan Cooke had been superb and looked solid but with only 10 minutes remaining Culm Sampford playing down the slope decided to change their style of football to the long ball game which they had obviously practiced in the past, it worked very well for them as they narrowed the lead to 3-2 when a huge kick from the keeper cleared the Sidmouth defence and their striker ran in and smashed into the Sidmouth net.

With their tales now up and Sidmouth feeling a little shell shocked, it was a lovely move down the left that found a Culm player unmarked and his shot from the edge of the box through a crowd of players found its way past the outstretched Vikings keeper and inside the far post to make it 3-3.

This was now the time for the Vikings to stand up and show how much they wanted to keep their 100% winning streak and they started to get the ball down and dominate possession again.

With only three minutes of the game remaining, some great work in midfield saw the ball at the feet of James Plowden 20 yards from goal on the angle, Plowden looked up spotted the opportunity and unleashed a right foot rocket which flew into the top right corner.

It was a goal worthy of winning any game and the Vikings played out the last few minutes for a well-earned 4-3 victory. It was a great all-round squad performance today but a special mention to the front two of Ridgway and Goody who worked tirelessly and caused the home team problems all morning.

Everyone worked hard and with a slightly depleted squad showed great determination and character. It was a great spectacle for Junior football and even the league appointed referee congratulated both teams after the whistle and said it was the best played game of football he had ever taken charge of.

Sidmouth U13s Warriors 5-2 Seaton U13s

After a close competitive first 15 minutes, the Warriors finally took the lead with a goal coming from a Seaton chance, which Vikings goalkeeper Archie Buttle saved but using his quick thinking released Archie Melville Hallett who had no problem in finding the back of the Seaton net.

Melville Hallett then added to his tally to give Sidmouth a 2-0 lead at half time. Some strong defending by the outstanding trio of Taylor, Jack and Will, along with Archie in the Vikings goal prevented any chance of Seaton finding a way back into the game.

Warriors made it 3-0 after a determined Lucas Vicary was fouled in the box, only to pick himself up and score the resulting penalty. Then followed a brilliant display from Alistair Mounoury to score a spectacular 4th goal.

Seaton found a consolation goal before some great work by the strong midfielder Lucas O’Connor who fed Archie to smash home the 5th goal to seal the game and his hat-trick .

Special mention goes to new signing Tyler Charmers who put in a solid performance and Lucas O’Connor winning the midfield battle against strong Seaton opposition to win himself the man of the match award.