2nd XI Vs Sidmouth & Ottery A

South East 1

Minehead A: 3

Sidmouth & Ottery A: 3  

Minehead A took a trip down to Sidmouth & Ottery A, looking to bounce back after last week’s humbling defeat to the league leaders. Sidmouth looked strong early on and moved the ball around well as Minehead tried to settle into the game. Captain Simon Strong took it on himself to make inroads into the Sidmouth defence as a marauding run found him in a shooting position and a fortunate deflection off the goalkeeper saw the visitors go 1-0 up. Sidmouth continued to attack with pace and managed to create many chances, hitting the underside of the bar with one fantastic reverse hit, before grabbing a goal for themselves to level it up.

Minehead continued to play well on the break with Alex Covey and Daz Meecham causing problems for the Sidmouth defence, before the latter managed to grab a goal after some good work from Paul Stevens and John Clegg down the right. The visitors lead 2-1 at halftime knowing the game was far from over.

Minehead started the second half brightly and forced a short corner early on, which was well finished by Jeff Stelling as the visitors extended their lead to two goals. With 30 minutes still to play, there was plenty left in the game and when Sidmouth grabbed a second, Minehead knew that plenty of defence work was required, especially with dwindling energy in the middle of the park and briefly being reduced to ten men when Luke Orpin received a green card.

Unfortunately for the visitors, they were made to pay for those extra mince pies at Christmas and the lack of subs caused a few gaps to start springing up on the pitch. Plenty of pinball was involved in the equalising goal for Sidmouth and Minehead managed to hold on for the game to finish 3-3. Man of the match Simon Strong.

Man of the Match: Simon Strong

Minehead: Ryan Jones, Dom Bowden, Simon Strong, Ash Tisshaw, Paul Stevens, John Clegg, Jeff Stelling, Luke Orpin, Alex Covey, Daz Meecham, Mark Collins