Sidmouth Town exited the Throgmorton Devon Premier Cup when beaten 4-3 by Plymouth and West Devon League outfit Navy Inn, but it will go down as ‘one that got away’ from the Vikings.

Town boss Josh Stunell said: “For the first 45 minutes we absolutely battered them and really ought to have had the game sewn up by half-time.

“After the game their manager told me his team had ‘got away with one’. That said we were the masters of our own downfall with two areas of our game being the reason.”

He continued: “Had our finishing been up to scratch then we’d have been out of sight before the second half when we made some dreadful mistakes in central defence. The latter is an on-going problem for us and it’s something that needs addressing.

“I do worry that some of the younger players lose focus. That’s not surprising as they move fro youth football to adult life when jobs and other things come into their lives. From a footballing perspective that is a shame as often it will be the some of the more talented players who lose the focus and, when you see lads who you have nurtured through the youth ranks fall into that phase of being unfocussed it is so frustrating from a coaches point of view.

“In terms of us here at Sidmouth Town, we have a competitive squad and that means we can bring in lads from our other club senior sides and they will do a job for us.

“That was borne out when we got a point at Appledore where we fielded four lads who the previous match day had been with the second team and, to a man, the four did not look at all out of place.”

Tomorrow (Saturday) Town have another cup tie when they entertain Premier Division Stoke Gabriel in the Walter C Parsons Funeral Directors Cup (2.30pm).

Stunell says: “I saw them [Stoke Gabriel] at Exmouth Town recently and they are clearly not the same side that won promotion last season. I really do believe that we can beat them and the fact that we have a few ‘out’ probably makes life a little easier for me in terms of making changes after last week.

“What it does mean is that opportunity knocks for those who get a shirt tomorrow. I have yet, this season, to see too many of our players produce the kind of display across 90 minutes that tells me they want to keep the shirt and that’s what I shall be looking for in this latest cup tie.”

Kick-off against Stoke Gabriel is 2.30pm.