Pinhoe Pikes 5, Sidmouth Warriors 4 This was certainly an Under-13 Division Two top-of-the-table humdinger of a game and a real tale of two halves, writes Simon Jones.

For the first time this season Sidmouth started slowly. As they were playing up the slope in the first half this seemed to affect their mindset. They were lethargic, and half hearted tackles and stray passes gave Pinhoe the belief and confidence in this tense match. Sloppy defending and misplaced passes saw Pinhoe score two inside five minutes midway through the first half. Sidmouth then had a couple of half chances when Gosse and Cooke went close, the best chance fell to McCullin where their keeper pulled off a good save. Then a 30-yard strike and a scrambled effort saw Pinhoe four up at the break.

Some harsh, but encouraging words at half time, and a couple of tactical changes saw Sidmouth come out a completely different team in the second half.

The outstanding Mead was moved from the Centre of Defence to Striker and this bore fruit straight away as he scored two goals in the first five minutes of the second half to reduce the deficit. Sidmouth then dominated creating chance after chance and only some excellent goalkeeping from the Pinhoe keeper kept them out. Cooke was dictating play and his ‘Rory Delap’ like throws caused untold pressure on the Pinhoe goal.

Sidmouth really needed another goal because against the run of play Pinhoe broke away and scored, leaving Sidmouth a mountain to climb with 10 minutes left. The one thing about the Warriors though is they never give up. Gosse, Silk and Cooke all upped their games and a Cooke strike reduced the deficit once more. It was one way traffic for the last five minutes with Pinhoe hanging on. Buckland scored to set up a nerve jangling last two minutes. Sidmouth went close, but could quite mastermind the great comeback..

With the return fixture happening on Thursday another cracking match is expected.

Warriors team: Team; Ollie Perez, Kade Hayman, Ethan Mead, Matt Jones, Tom Woodruff, Joe Buckland, Jack Silk, Toby De Gruchy, Sam Sparkes, James McCullin, Louis Chapman-Coombe, Ben Gosse, Alex Thomas and Tom Cooke.