SIDMOUTH TOWN 1 - CREDITON 2

CREDITON travelled to sunny Sidmouth on Saturday, February 17 to face a young, but physical, Vikings side, who were out to avenge their narrow 1-0 defeat at Lords Meadow earlier in the season.

This was Crediton’s first game in six weeks, after a dismal period of weather, which last saw them play back at the beginning of January.

Trenaman opted for a similar lineup to their last outing many moons ago, against Axminster, with Bilcock the only change.

He came in for Morish, who picked up an injury at the gym, after Carpenter dropped a dumbbell on him. This meant Durrant had to switch to a more unfamiliar position on the left wing.

The game started with Sidmouth on the front foot, the Crediton players were seemingly still dusting off the cobwebs after such a long lay off and were fortunate not to go behind in the opening five minutes.

Waring made a couple of point blank saves from close range headers, as Crediton struggled to clear their lines.

It wasn’t long before Kirton grew into the game, it was Durrant and Ord linking down the left who were causing the problems and it was no surprise when the two combined to give Crediton a 20th minute lead.

Carpenter found Durrant with a delightful cross field pass and he raced in behind the Vikings full-back, squaring to Ord, who was left with the simplest of tasks, rolling the ball into an empty net.

Bilcock was enjoying his more attacking role, deployed just behind Ord, who was a handful for the Sids defence throughout the first 45 minutes.

It was Ord who put it on a plate for Bilcock moments later, but the midfielder fluffed his lines when in a great position.

Sidmouth nearly got back into the game on the half-hour mark, Yao lost the ball in a dangerous area, allowing the home side to break, with Antat slipping in Smalls in the left-hand channel, but his effort was well-saved by Waring.

Durrant was the standout player for Crediton in the first half, his directness and energy causing the Vikings all sorts of problems down the left.

On 40 minutes it was he who doubled the visitors lead, Lee won the ball in midfield and caught Sidmouth napping with a pass inside the full-back to put Durrant through on goal, he cut inside and finished past the ‘keeper, with the slight aid of a deflection.

Just before half-time Crediton nearly made it three in bizarre fashion. Bilcock whipped in a corner from the left which nearly went straight in, Vikings defender Binion ducked on the line after shouts of “away!” from his ‘keeper and the ball cannoned back off the post.

The second 45 minutes was always going to be tougher for the visitors, defending the slope and against a very direct Sidmouth team, who launched the ball forward at every opportunity.

Densham replaced Antat at half-time as Stunnel rolled the dice in a bid to get back into the game, but the change had little effect.

Goss and Trenaman were quite happy to deal with the barrage of long balls and in truth were quite comfortable for the majority of the afternoon. Khoo and McCann were seeing a lot of the ball, with the latter struggling to keep it on the pitch, with some wayward passing.

Knight forced a save from Waring as Sidmouth pressed, but they didn’t really carve out a clear cut chance until the hour mark, when Davies’ header was blocked on the line excellently by Khoo.

As the clock ticked on it looked as though Crediton would see out the game to grab the all-important three points, but Waring had other ideas as he gifted Sidmouth a way back into it and set up a grandstand finish.

Smalls floated a high cross from the right which should have been comfortable for the Kirton ‘keeper, but the veteran stopper fumbled the ball and dropped it on to the feet of Newberry, who couldn’t miss from two yards.

It was then backs to the wall for the final 10 minutes, as the home side swarmed forward, however it was Crediton who should have sealed the game on the counter with a three-on-two break, the move ended with Bilcock shooting straight down the throat of the Sids ‘keeper.

Crediton continued to cope with the route one Sidmouth approach but nearly threw away their hard work with the final kick of the game, a harmless ball into the box was completely missed by McCann, but luckily for the Crediton full-back, Knight scuffed his shot wide from six yards and the final whistle arrived.

A much-needed win for Crediton, to keep pace with the teams at the top end of the table, especially after a prolonged period without a game.

Next up for Crediton is a local derby, with a home game against Alphington tomorrow, Saturday, February 24. Kick off at 3pm.

Dave Lee