Sidmouth Town returned to Peninsula League football with a 3-1 defeat at Ilfracombe Town.

The Vikings started quite well and nearly took the lead before Ilfracombe found their rhythm to take a 2-0 lead into the half-time break.

The home side extended the advantage but a change in shape also brought a change in fortunes for Sidmouth, who grabbed a deserved consolation and left the game with positives to take forward.

“The boys did ok but it was always going to be tough at Ilfracombe, especially after not playing any football for five weeks,” said Sidmouth boss Danny Burwood.

“I was glad we got the goal to make it 3-1 because we deserved at least something from the game and we could have scored before they opened the scoring with an audacious effort from Lukie White.

“We changed the formation for the second half because the 3-5-2 we started with didn’t give us enough width in our play.

“Although we have used that system before, it is a big pitch at Ilfracombe and we needed to make better use of that.

“We got at them a lot more in the second period and, in terms of possession, we more than matched Ilfracombe.

“A couple of silly errors proved costly, which you will get when you’ve not played for five weeks.

“The third goal for Ilfracombe actually came after some good play from us in the midfield but one blind pass from us allowed them to play a quick ball over the top and the finish was a superb strike from 25 yards.

“It was a killer blow but you have to credit them for an excellent finish.

“Apart from that, we did ok. It was just in the final third that we needed to be a bit sharper because we did well in possession.

“All three substitutes that came on, Jack Rawlings, Max Hammett and Jack Hatswell, had a chance to impress, and they certainly did that.

“Jack Hatswell has just come back from America and we will give him time to settle back into the game.

“Our goal was a ball played out wide to the right and Will Jenkins rose above everyone else to score a very good header.

“If we had played them five weeks ago, it might have been a different outcome because it showed that Ilfracombe have already had 90 minutes in them.”