Sidmouth’s two Under-9 teams met each other for their latest action and the contest proved to be ever bit as exciting as an in-house derby meeting ought to be.

When the teams had gone head-to-head the season before it had been Warriors who had overwhelmed their colleagues to the tune of an 8-1 success and so, it was with some trepidation that the Raiders took to the pitch for this meeting.

In the previous meeting it had been a bright start from Warriors that gave them the upper hand and led to them dominating much of the game.

What was very clear from the opening exchanges of this meting was that it was most certainly not going to be as one-sided as the last one!

Raiders were quickly into their stride with some terrific play involving Herbie Isherwood, Freya Horler and Owen Badlam, who quickly showed what a much improved outfit Raiders are.

New signing Harry Finch, together with Kai Prendergast and Sam Hartland were strong in defence, both making sure the ball was cleared at the first sign of danger. The Warriors front two were dangerous on the attack though, and Ben Gale, the Raiders keeper, had to pull off some tremendous saves to keep the ball out of the net!

An excellent pass from Dylan Robbins set up Freya Horler to fire Raiders into the lead with the goal coming in the dying throes of the first half.

After the break Charlie Carstairs was outstanding, demonstrating his versatility in a variety of positions on the pitch.

He combined exceptionally well in mid-field with Joaquim Cassop, and the pair of them kept feeding Herbie Isherwood up front with some skilled passing.

However, Raiders, as a team, were tiring under the relentless pressure from the Warriors and it was late in the game that their brave work was undone when Warriors scored towards the end though, and two late goals by the Warriors gave them derby victory – but by the narrowest of margins.

The Raiders’ Man of the Match award was shared between Ben Gale and Charlie Carstairs.