Sidmouth Town 1, Galmpton United 5 The Vikings were well beaten at Manstone Lane by a table-topping Galmpton United that side that have now won 17 of their 23 league games this season, writes Steve Birley.

The score line suggests a one-sided affair, but it was far from that and, had the Vikings not made so many elementary defensive errors o the day the margin of victory would have been far less!

With the Manstone pitch in superb condition thanks to groundsman Ken Mortimore’s tireless effort, playing football ought to have been a fairly simple exercise!

Unfortunately for the home faithful it was the visiting side that enjoyed the surface and they dominated the early exchanges, taking the lead when Jack Burgess failed to collect from a routine corner. Shortly after the defence was caught square and the visitors were two goals to the good!

Eventually the Vikings played some football and pressured a suspect visitor’s defence with Andy Thompson going close with a header. Just as Town were getting a foothold in the game a pass, cut-out in a dangerous area, gave Galmpton a 3-0 lead.

Andy Isaacs pulled a goal back following up an Alex Raistrick effort to leave a two goal deficit at the interval.

Knowing the next goal was crucial Towns cruel luck was highlighted when a shot going well wide was deflected by Nick Gingell past Burgess to effectively kill the game off. The visitors managed to extend the lead ten minutes from time with the referee overruling the linesman who was flagging for what did look a clear off-side!

Town boss Paddy Thomas said: “Clearly we need to tighten up the defence. Mistakes are not helping us and confidence is low. We had seven players unavailable today. I don’t want that to be called an excuse, but it was a factor. The team put a lot of effort in, but we lacked quality against a decent side. We have two massive games now with Liverton here this weekend and the short trip to Axminster Town the week after. I am looking for us to win both those games.”