Sidmouth Town Reserves were good value for a 3-1 victory over Dawlish United.

Fresh from a 2-0 victory over Hemyock – goals from Aidy Parr and Rich Johnson – Town’s second string took to the Manstone Lane pitch for the second Saturday running, but found conditions certainly not conducive to a passing game!

It all added up to an afternoon where the home side made hard work of dispatching their competitive, if limited visitors.

After a scrappy opening ten minutes the game’s first goal came as Jake Boyland raced down the left flank to fire a pin-point cross to the arriving Aidy Parr who finished confidently. The rest of the half was a turgid affair; the hosts dominating proceedings, but creating very little end product, whilst the visitors continued to battle through the half creating less.

After a little half-time chat Town were swiftly into their stride and they created three good goal-scoring opportunities for the front three that should have seen them out of sight!

However, they were all spurned and it was not before Parr notched his second that the home faithful could breathe easy.

Dawlish were still very much in the game at this point, but the Vikings pressed for the game-breaker and a series of one-on-ones were either wasted or fallen foul to the liberal use of the flag by the visiting linesman.

Finally Boyland beat the flag and the keeper to put the Vikings three up, seemingly sealing the points.

Injuries then followed as the heavy pitch took its toll and instead of giving the youngsters a run for the last quarter the home side had to re-shape and, amidst these changes, conceded, with ten minutes still to go.

Town gloves man Dec Line saved with his foot after an under-hit back-pass was intercepted by the Dawlish striker before the final whistle arrived.

Will Jenkins put in another good showing, but was pipped to the Man of the Match award by Matt Ogley. The diminutive midfielder walking tall amongst his peers, showing a wider range of passing alongside his usual comfort in possession and boundless energy.

The next three games could define the Reserve side’s reward come the end of the season as they first travel to University and then to Cullompton before hosting the students in the return game. Both sides sit above Town in the table, the Vikings having games in hand.