On a roasting bank holiday Monday, Sidmouth Town second team saw their squad stretched to its limits as they went down 3-1 on their visit to Chard Town Reserves for a Macron League Division One fixture.

On a day when the club struggled to field two out of the four teams that have been competing this current season, some questions need to be asked!

Starting up the steep slope, the young Town side played some neat football up to the opposing area but didn’t trouble the home goalie.

Midway through the first half Chard took the lead when Matt Skelding, in goal due to unavailability and illness, saved with his legs only for the ball to rebound onto Matt Colson’s shins and finish in the net. Undeterred, the Vikings continued to play good approach play and an equaliser was the likely outcome. It duly arrived when Matt Salter crossed to the far post where Ben Miller volleyed in using his side foot. However, an unfortunate mistake when attempting to clear their lines saw the ball fall kindly for a home player, who made no mistake and Chard took a narrow 2-1 lead into the interval.

The second half saw Sidmouth press and have the lion’s share of the goalmouth action. A superb double save and an Aidy Parr shot which hit the inside of the post, but apparently didn’t cross the line, were just two of a hatful of chances created before another mistake was to gift the hosts their third and final goal of a bizarre match.

Town joint boss Paddy Thomas said: “These sort of end-of-season games are dreaded by managers, players and clubs alike and, to be frank, the season has become something of a farce given the number of matches that we have had to cram into the closing weeks.”