On Saturday Sidmouth Town thirds were 7-3 winners when they entertained Woodbury in a Macron League Division Seven meeting.

Untypically, Sidmouth were quick out of blocks, the start of the most majestic half of football demonstrated by the predominantly young side.

Playing with width and depth and benefiting from the resulting space and time, the home side tore apart their opposition scoring five unanswered goals by half-time.

The creative Connor Murphy, Rich Johnson and Ben Miller created chance after chance with Ollie Turton and Johnson himself scoring twice and Murphy scoring from a 40-yard set piece.

The Vikings could even afford the luxury of a penalty miss after Miller was up-ended with the effervescent Jack Gibson becoming the fifth Sidmouth player in a row to miss from the spot!

Despite a unanimous warning from the older players at half-time, complacency kicked into the second half performance with tempo, energy and intensity, all gong missing to the Town play.

Woodbury scored once, twice and the got a third before making a mess of a chance to make it 5-4 with just five minutes remaining!

It was the energetic Jimmy Pearse who calmed the home nerves and sealed victory with a cool finish before Joe Gosse scored the goal of the game with a stunning strike that saw him drill the ball into the net from an impossible angle.

Town thirds boss Ian Peacock said: “Credit must be given to a Woodbury side whose spirit got them back into a fairly fought game, but the exemplary first half was enough to make sure we got all three points.”

The win lifts Town to fourth in the table and tomorrow (Saturday) they travel to Exeter to take on fifth placed Polonia.