Sidmouth Town Reserves were 8-3 winners when they hosted Wellington Reserves in a Macron League Division One encounter.

The Vikings, fielding an even younger side than usual, took time to settle into any sort of rhythm.

Whilst trying to organise themselves, the Vikings conceded the opening goal with glovesman Jake Sellick beaten before he had set himself for the shot.

This had the desired effect as Town upped the tempo and quickly drew level with Aidy Parr the scorer.

For the following 20 minutes Parr became virtually unplayable and, along with Ferenc Bodor, who also looked back to his best, the pair tore the visiting defence to bits as Town added three more – two of them scored by Parr – to lead 4-1 at half-time.

The second half had a feeling of ‘Groundhog Day’ as Wellington once again scored first, but, as it had in the first half, conceding sparked Town into life and they turned on the style and laid siege to the Somerset side’s goal.

Parr got a fourth, Bodor grabbed a couple - giving him his hat-trick - and Joe Miller rounded things off taking Jimmy Pearse’s well-weighted pass and rounding the keeper before rolling the ball home.

A defensive mix-up saw Wellington grab their third in between all the home goals.

The Vikings did well in scoring eight, but need to guard against the ‘cheap goals’ that they shipped and, like any team that wants to aspire to wins things, a tighter defence is required! Having said that, for class football in patches and keystone cop defending at times, it’s an entertaining afternoon to watch the Town second string in action!

Ben Goodier, given his first start after impressing the third team management, did well and looks to have a bright future.

Town second team joint boss Paddy Thomas says: “Jimmy has been on the fringes of the second team and, with the position he plays being strong player wise was overdue an opportunity and did himself no harm with some intelligent play after coming off the bench.

“As did Luke Spiller who slotted in at right back and technically looks sound.

“The club is trying to give youth a chance and these three breaking through is testimony to the beliefs of the management of the third and fourth teams, who are promoting the players up through when the time is right.”

Once again, player availability saw the team missing three from the previous week and it all means, given some of the individual performances, that management pair Gary Bargery and Paddy Thomas have something of a selection dilemma for this Saturday’s (December 2) Devon Senior Cup tie away at Thorverton (2pm).

A tough game in Mid Devon is expected and the odds on it being 0-0 after 90 minutes are very short!