Sidmouth Raiders Under-9s were big winners over Cullompton when they played their first match since the festive break.

The game was played in Mid Devon on a small and narrow pitch, but Raiders made a confident start and bossed the early exchanges.

Freya Horler set the tone for the match with her energy and skill and it was her linking with the impressive Owen Badlam, that was central to much of the best of the Raiders attacking play.

The opening goal involved the pair with Horler involved in the build-up and Badlam being the scorer.

The home side responded well and forced Ben Gale in the Raiders goal to make a number of smart saves.

With the heavy pitch taking its toll and the mud certainly spreading itself across both sets of players kits, play calmed down and became less frenetic.

The slowing of the pace suited Raiders and they began to get their passing game going.

Joaquin Cassop, Charlie Carstairs and Michael Byrne all showed good touches and the Sidmouth lead was doubled when Badlam netted his second.

The third goal was very much down to class of Freya Horler who gathered the ball and then took on a number of opposition players before drilling the ball home for a superb solo effort.

Cully tried to respond, but were constantly pushed back by some terrific defensive work, particularly from Kai Prendergast and Dylan Robbins.

In the last quarter Herbie Isherwood found the back of the net with arguably his finest strike for Raiders in a long time – the ball arrowing its way into the top right hand corner of the Cully net!

Isherwood then netted again to complete the scoring.

Raiders manager and coach Dave Isherwood said: “The all-round performamnce was exceptional. I was immensely proud of the team. They worked off their Christmas turkey and thoroughly deserved the win. Well done to them all.”

The Raiders Man of the Match award was shared between Freya Horler and Owen Badlam.