Sidmouth Town Reserves saw any lingering hopes of bagging a top three Fresha League One berth and with it promotion to the top flight of local league football when they went down 5-2 at Witheridge.

The Vikings fell behind straight from kick-off with the ball nestling in the back of the Town net before a visiting player had touched the ball!

To their credit, Town showed character in abundance, began to move the ball around and played their way back into the contest and deservedly levelled courtesy of a Mike Stamp header.

However, a couple of mistakes led to two further home goals as the Town players seemed to forget the concept of team play and operate more as individuals!

Their cause was not helped when Adam Bartlett was caught after a heavy challenge. He did manage to see out the remainder of the half, but was clearly suffering.

Town did pull a goal back after Mark Burdus thundered a volley that cannoned back off the bar eventually landing at Joe Millers feet and the teenager delivered the ball to the back of the net!

This gave Town hope that if they tightened up then they could go on and win the game. With Damien Armes deputising between the sticks Town never really got going and another error put the game beyond their reach.

The final goal came from an own goal that summed up the overall Viking performance.

Manager Paddy Thomas said: “From being a decent side with plenty to play for the club’s reserve team now looks poor and confidence is clearly low. The old football adage of ‘you do not become a bad side overnight’ rings loud currently and what needs to happen is for the lads to stick together and work harder to get back to winning ways.”

Hopefully those winning ways will return on Saturday (April 9) when they travel to Budleigh Salterton (3pm).