Vikings must sharpen up in front of goal

Sidmouth Town went to Fort Furzebrake at the weekend and came back with a 0-0 draw.

But they created many chances and, although manager Paul Ashford was pleased with the performance in that respect, he did think that some of those should have been converted into goals.

“Maybe I should have gambled a bit at the end, but Beer were always a threat,” he said. “We had chances to close the game down by half time, but we just couldn’t get our finishing clinical enough and, by the end, we were looking very predictable. We need to use our craft better in front of goal.”

Work has been done in training to address that problem, but Sidmouth, like many teams, are feeling the effects of the on/off season with players not knowing if a game will actually go ahead until the morning of the match. Players will be glued to the weather reports for today and overnight.

Beer Albion have not been beaten on home territory all season and their centre back Andrew Foster was the pick of the Fishermen. They worked hard and deserved the draw. Luke Bartlett was another earmarked for praise after he harried the Sidmouth defenders all match long.

Beer have no match this weekend as they are off on a club skiing trip to Austria.

Seaton Town are the league fireworks at the moment and their win over Hatherleigh took them six points clear at the top.

Sidmouth have a big match this weekend when they take on St Martin’s - currently one place, and two points, above them in third in the Premier League, having played one match more.

Sidmouth Town Reserves, whose match was waterlogged off last weekend, play Royal Marines Reserves at home, 2.15pm.