Sidmouth Town boss Josh Stunell is looking for his team to be tighter in defence when they entertain Galmpton and Roselands tomorrow (Saturday) at Manstone Lane (2pm).

The kick-off time has been brought forward by one hour owing to the visitors wanting to get back to a wedding celebration.

Town go into the game having banked just a single point from their first two games – last Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home to Torridgeside being followed by Monday night’s 4-3 defeat at University.

Stunell says: “We need to tighten things up at the back. Monday was almost laughable as we committed basic errors in our final third and were punished by a slick forward line. That said, when we went down to 10 men [James Clampin picked up a first-half straight red card], we actually began to take control of the game and the fact we did not take anything out of the contest, given what we put in for the final hour, is beyond me. We really did deserve to come home with something.”

The fact that Town didn’t was very much down to an error by young goalkeeper Josh McLean, who fumbled an 85th minute free-kick into the path of a University player who had the simplest of tasks of tapping the ball home to win the match and break Town hearts.

Stunell says: “It was a bad mistake by the lad, but I am not going to let him hide. He’s a quality glovesman and, over the first 180 minutes of the season, he has shown enough to convince me that I am absolutely right to go with him as my number one. People always point to the errors, but they forget the super saves, good handling, excellent distribution that went on before the slip. I am a great believer in that we defend as a team and attack as one also, and every man in the eleven needs to stand up and take responsibility.”

The Town boss is aware that the longer his side go without a ‘first win of the new term,’ the pressure will increase, both on him and his players.

He says: “We are in a results business, and it does not sit well with me that we are without a win in two games so far. We have already spoken with the players in pre-season that we need to pay the club back now for the support they have given on and off the pitch.

“That payback is to be delivered in success and to get successful we all need to be pulling in the same direction and accepting that, when things go wrong, we hold our hands up and do not go looking for excuses. It’s no good players looking around for things and/or others to blame for mistakes.”

For the meeting with Bovey Tracey, the Town boss will make changes.

He says: “The reason we are working with a squad of 18 is that they are all very capable of doing a job. James’s [Clampin] imminent suspension for his red card on Monday means the door opens now for someone else and it’s up to them to take the bull by the horns and make the shirt theirs.”