Sidmouth Town went down 8-2 when they came up against title chasing Teignmouth Town at Manstone Lane, but the score line most certainly does not tell the whole story, writes Steve Birley.

With 20 minutes of an entertaining encounter to got the sides were level at 2-2 and the game looked to be one that could go either way until the South Devon side scored their third and, despite a swift and impressive comeback, a fourth in the 80th minute led to the floodgates opening and Town shipped four more inside the last 10 minutes.

Teignmouth struck first with Sam Chapman scoring the first of his four goals inside the first 10 minutes, but parity was restored in the 20th minute when Riki Pitter added another to his impressive tally of goals this season.

A slick passing move from the visitors led to a Matt Eaves goal and Teign led 2-1 at the break.

Vikings’ boss Josh Stunell tweaked his formation at the break, introducing another of the club’s successful Under-16 team, Joe Miller, who came on for another teenager, the industrious Matt Ogley.

A bright start to the second half was rewarded in the 67th minute when Town skipper Aaron Doble rifled a free-kick towards goal and it went into the net off Teign goalkeeper Liam Jones.

Three minutes later the visitors regained the lead when Adam Fay picked up the ball 20-yards from goal and hit an unstoppable effort past the impressive Dec Lines in the home goal. The Teigns scored a fourth in the 80th minute through Ryan Bush and then the flood gates opened! Town threw everything into a concerted effort to get back into the game. Centre back Cameron Vere was pushed up front with Jake Boyland making way and Mike Pidgeon came off the bench to slot into a three-man defence alongside teenager Jamie Newbery and Mark Burdus. Pidgeon’s first challenge of the game was harshly deemed to be a foul inside the area and Teign player-manager Geoff Breslan slammed the ball home.

The goal knocked the stuffing out of a home side that had contributed so much to the game and they shipped three more goals.

Town boss Josh Stunell said: “We went into the game without Darren Thomas, Jordon Cooper, Matt Slark and Ashley Small who were all unavailable. I thought that for 70 minutes out youthful side put a lot into the game. It’s all part of the learning curve for what is a young Town side and I am sure the players will learn from afternoons like this. We have no game this weekend so that should allow us to recover from knocks and hopefully be able to field as strong a side as possible for the final home league game of the season on Saturday week (March 28) when we host Galmpton United.”