Sidmouth Town Under-14s went down 3-0 at home to unbeaten Whipton, but the score line does do justice to an excellent game of football that was contested by two well-matched team.

The difference between the teams on the day was simply in the finishing, the Exeter side clinically despatched the opportunities that came their way whilst the Town youngsters have had better days with their shooting boots and they came up against a Whipton goalkeeper on top of his game!

Whipton opened the scoring inside two minutes and that made things look ominous for the home team.

However, they worked their way back into the match with Louis Spalding and Jacob Rice leading by example, working tirelessly to chase down the ball all at every opportunity.

Town enjoyed a 10-minute spell when they dominated and fashioned three good chances. Ben Goodie was denied when the Whipton gloves man palmed away his 30-metre lobbed shot. Soon after Matt Salter tried an audacious chipped effort that somehow the goalkeeper kept out and then Salter harried and hassled to force a defensive mistake and created himself room for a shot only to see the keeper’s fingertips deflect the ball for a corner!

Whipton recovered and began to take charge, scoring twice inside five minutes to hold a 3-0 lead at the interval.

With central defender Ollie Truman forced off through injury, a completely new central defensive pairing of Salter and Man of the Match Sam Fernley started the second half, flanked by Jimmy Ogley and Will Ashby.

With goalkeeper James Emmett behind them this defensive unit dealt with everything that Whipton could throw at them, keeping them at arms length as an end-to-end contest took place. A large crowd enjoyed some terrific play and throughout the second half the Town side gave as good as they got. Chances were created and either saved or not taken and Louis Spalding saw a shot flash inches wide of the mark before the final whistle was blown on a defeat for Town, but a performance that means they can hold their heads might high and augers well for the remainder of the season.