Sidbury United suffered a fourth defeat in seven Fresha League outings when beaten 3-1 by Heavitree United at Byes Lane.

It was a third straight reversal for Jeremy Schofield’s side who have now lost five of their first eight games, a far cry from the success of last season when they lost none of their first seven and did not lose a Fresha League game until November 1 – ironically at Heavitree United!

Conceding goals is the current United woe – they have shipped 24 already at the rate of three every game! This is also a far cry from last season when they conceded the 24th goal of their campaign in match 24 – on the final day of January, the sixth month of their season!

United boss Jeremy Schofield says: “It’s a strange one as we have the same back four and goalkeeper as 12 months ago, but, whereas last year we made a flying start and clean sheet came after clean sheet so the confidence blossomed, this year we have not made the best of starts and individual errors are creeping in game after game, errors that are ultimately costing us big time!”

Tomorrow, United seek to kick-start their Fresha League campaign – their poor start sees them sitting a lowly fourth from bottom – when they host a Chard Town Reserve side that is just two places and one point better off than them.

Schofield says: “It’s not quite a ‘must win’ at this stage of a long season, but it’s a game we ought to be winning. When we played them earlier in the season it was midweek and under their floodlights and they had the luxury of being able to field a number of first team p[layers. That should not be a factor tomorrow so hopefully we can get our season back on track with a good performance, no individual errors and three points.”