Sidmouth Town entertain Bovey Tracey in the South West Peninsula League Eastern Division tomorrow (Saturday) and kick-off has been brought forward by one hour after Town agreed to a request from the visitors for this.

The South Devon side have a wedding party that they wish to get home for and so Town agreed to the earlier kick-off.

Bovey Tracey won their opening game, a midweek 1-0 win over Galmpton and Roselands got them off to a winning start while Town have scored five goals – but shipped six – in banking one point from their first two outings.

Town boss Josh Stunell is very clear as to what he hopes to see on match day two of the new season.

He says: “Tighter defending is a must. In the first two games we have gifted all but one of the five goals with what I can only describe as ‘schoolboy defending’. That happens, particularly with younger defender and we have a number of them I our side.

“That said, I am a great believer in the adage that you attack as a team and defend as one and so we all need to be man enough to hold, our hands up and both accept and understand when a mistake has been made.”

In the Monday night game against University, Town had James Clampin sent off early on before falling 3-0 behind only to mount a superb comeback.

One player came in for high praise after the match – Ashley Small – of whom the Town boss said: “Ash [Small] epitomised what I like about front runners. We were back level at 3-3 when we had a corner, but they broke and looked to threaten our goal only for the on-running attacker to be then halted by a superb track by Ash – it said everything about his ‘all-round’ game on the night. He proved a constant handful for what was a well-organised back line and, on that form, Ash is going to be a big player for us this season.”

The Town boss had criticised goalkeeper Josh McLean for his 85th minute handling error that gifted the students all three points on Monday night.

However, the number one shirt remains the former Devon Under-18 glovesman’s.

Stunell says: “I am not going to let him hide. He’s a quality goalkeeper still learning his trade in terms of the men’s game. I think it is important that players know they have the confidence of their manager and there’s no doubt I have confidence in young Josh.”

Another young player to come in for some early season stick from the Vikings boss has been central defender Jamie Newberry.

Stunell says: “I left him out of the opening game as I felt he was not yet at the level he reached – and played at so consistently – last season. However, he was back in the side on Monday night and did well.

“It’s a fact with the younger players, that consistency levels can drop off, and they are more liable to individual errors, but, as the saying goes, form is temporary and class permanent, and Jamie has class in abundance.”