Sidmouth Town Reserves paid the price for failing to apply themselves against a well-drilled visiting Chagford side that departed Manstone Lane with all three Macron League Division One points after a 2-1 success.

From kick-off a good sized crowd saw the visitors produce a sense of urgency from Chagford and the early pressure saw a number of corners conceded as they unsettled the home defence.

Eight minutes in and a defensive mix up saw the away side open the scoring. At this stage the feeling amongst the home faithful that, hopefully, the early goal would be met with a significant response and Town would fire their way back into the contest.

However, it proved anything but! Wayward passes, bad first touches and a basic lack of understanding on what their personal roles were within the team shape, riddled the Town performance.

Chagford added a second from another corner as the ball was floated in evading every Town player, but not the central defender that nodded in at the far post!

Fifteen minutes in and the Vikings looked shaky, already trailing 2-0! The passing game that the young players in the side have been able to produce week in and week out suddenly disappeared as the visitors looked solid defensively

Five minutes before the break, Ben Miller weaved his way past three defenders and clipped the ball in for the onrushing Louis Spalding whose header drifted just wide of the upright.

Confidence soared and shortly after Ferenc Bodor finished with aplomb when given a one-on-one with the Chagford keeper

Still in the game, the Vikings were told to up the ante and to be fair they did improve in the second half, but couldn’t take any of the numerous chances that came their way as Chagford held out to grab all three points in a well deserved win

Town reserve’s joint boss Paddy Thomas said: “The players need to look at their own performance and be honest with themselves.

“Every game is a test and if you give sides a lead then it’s always going to be difficult to get back into the game.

“All in all this was a disappointing performance from the Vikings on what was, yet again, a fantastically prepared surface for them to play on.”

On Saturday, Town second team entertain n Chard Town Reserves (3pm).