Sidmouth Town boss Paddy Thomas has issued a rallying call to his ailing side before tomorrow’s South West Peninsula League, Eastern Division home game with Okehampton Argyle, writes Steve Birley.

The Vikings boss says: “We simply have to win this game to avoid sending our season potentially into a downwards spiral from which we may not get out of.”

Thomas is clearly frustrated that he is beginning to sound like a crackled record consistently saying the same thing to his side.

He said: “It does bother me that the players are not listening and learning. All I want is to help them improve their game both individually and collectively, but for that to happen it needs lots of hard work and commitment from them, and not just for 90 minutes on a Saturday. It’s quite a responsibility representing your town’s football club and I am working hard to improve things, but it is frustrating when we are patently not learning from our mistakes!”

Okehampton will pitch up at Manstone Lane tomorrow sitting one point and one place below the Vikings in the table and for both sides, full-time tomorrow will signal one-third of the league season being completed.

On the player front there’s a welcome return for striker Dan Norman whilst Aaron Doble, a sub last Saturday, is now fit enough to start.

Thomas says: “If we harbour any serious ambitions of avoiding a season of toil then three points against Okehampton is a must.”