Sidmouth Town picked up six points from two games inside 60 hours as they followed up a Saturday’s 5-1 Manstone Lane win over Newton Abbot with a 4-2 success in Exeter on Monday night at University.

It all means that since the opening game, a 1-0 defeat at Axminster Town, the Vikings have picked up seven points from three games and they sit fifth in the fledgling table.

Town boss Richard Pears says: “I was delighted with the all-round performance of the lads in both the games. Mind you, even in that 1-0 defeat I saw signs that told me we were on the right track and, since then, we’ve had three tough games: drawn with a useful Torridgeside, and seen off Newton Abbot Spurs and University in some style.”

He continued: “For the meeting with Spurs we tweaked a couple of things, brought in Will Richards to play up top and moved skipper Chris Duchenski into a midfield berth and both switches worked a treat. The pace and high tempo of our play in the game was simply outstanding and it was everything I was hoping to see at this early stage of being with a new team.”

There were five different scorers in the Saturday success, with Martyn Hancock, Chris Duchenski, Tony Radford, Will Jenkins and Ollie Jarrett scoring the Town goals.

On Monday night, four of the goalscorers again found the net, with Hancock, Duchenski, Jenkins and Jarrett all netting.

With goals coming from across the pitch it’s no surprise that the Town boss is delighted with his team’s early season performances.

He says: “In the Newton Abbot Spurs game, one of the goals came at the end of a 16-pass move, which is something we had been working on in the pre-season period. For me as a manager, to see the lads still so strong deep into the final quarter of a match really does tell me that what we have been working on has been getting through.

“We have been impressing upon the lads the importance of personal fitness to be able to ensure we are still putting in, in minutes 75-90, what we were putting in from minutes 1-15, and, to a player, they are looking the part.”

There is one thing that has pleased Pears more than anything over the opening four games, as he explained: “When you go to a new club you hope that the dressing room gels quickly and I have rarely seen one come together as easily and comfortably as this one has at Sidmouth. Even when we lost at Axminster our lads had a togetherness about them in the bar and were there long after the last home player had left!”

Tomorrow (Saturday) Town are in action at Ilfracombe Town and they are back in East Devon derby action next Wednesday (August 29) when they travel across to Mountbatten Park to meet Honiton Town (6.45pm).

Pears says: “Tough games, but games we need not be worried about going into. We have a confidence about us at the moment and I personally cannot wait for each game to come.”