Sidmouth Town became the first side to deny Bovey Tracey all three points in a South West Peninsula League Eastern Division match this season when the sides shared six goals in a midweek floodlit thriller at Manstone Lane.

Sidmouth Town became the first side to deny Bovey Tracey all three points in a South West Peninsula League Eastern Division match this season when the sides shared six goals in a midweek floodlit thriller at Manstone Lane.

With manager Richard Pears away, Town assistant boss Kevin Tooze took charge and he saw the Vikings roar into a deserved two goal lead through goals from Dan Churchill and Ash Small.

However, playing some terrific passing football and looking a threat every time they went forward, Town committed the cardinal footballing sin of opting to sit back – but only for a spell of around 15 minutes – but that was enough time for the visitors to show just what they pitched up at Manstone Lane looking for, an eighth straight win.

Three goals in quick succession, albeit one of them from a penalty that the home side felt was highly contentious, turned the game on its head with Bovey moving into a 3-2 lead.

This current Town side though, off the back of their wonderful on-going FA Vase run, have plenty of character in their side and it came to the fore once more with Ash Small netting a second and half-time arrived with the game locked at 3-3.

Given what had gone on in the opening 45 minutes in terms of some terrific attacking play at both ends of the pitch, it was perhaps a surprise that the second half could not produce even a single goal and so the contest ended as it had at been at the halfway stage with honours even.

Town assistant boss Kevin Tooze said: “Is it a point gained or two lost? I’d have to say that a draw was a very fair result. It was a great effort by the lads to get two goals up - and be in a position of relative dominance against a very tidy Bovey Tracey side. However, as good as we had been, it just shows that you can never ‘count your chicken’ in this game and we paid a heavy price for a period of some 15 minutes when we sat back, stood off opposition players and allowed them back into a contest that they really looked out of.”

Tooze continued: “That’s what good teams can do to you and it’s testament perhaps to the quality in our ranks that we were able to hit back from 3-2 down to make sure we got, at the very least, a point for our collective efforts.”

On Saturday, Town travel into Exeter to meet Alphington in a Walter C Parson Funeral Directors League Cup tie (2.30pm). Tooze, who will still be in charge, says: “We have four or five out, but that simply opens the door to members of the squad to show us what they can do. It’s not in our nature to go into any game without anything but a win as our target and that’s certainly the aim at Alphington.”