Exmouth defeat Sidmouth in pre-season fixture

Exmouth Town continued their pre-season friendlies with a home tie against their East Devon rivals Sidmouth Town, who were playing the first of their warm up games before the start of their South West Peninsula League campaign.
Exmouth’s starting line-up reflected that three of their regular starters were missing due to Covid self-isolation but Town were able to welcome back fans favourite James Richards and give a second outing to Josh Cann.
Cann, who has recently moved to the area, has signed for the club ahead of the new Western League season and brings experience gained from having played Southern League football with Yate Town and Paulton Rovers.
With Manager Kevin Hill also using his Torquay United connections, he was able to cast his eye over a couple of trialists who were part of Torquay’s Academy.
The opening 25 minutes was evenly contested with Sidmouth probably having the edge, although neither ‘keeper was tested. The first real chance saw Ben Steer break through, round the Sidmouth glovesman, but from a narrow angle his shot drifted just wide of the far post.
On 36 minutes, a similar move saw Jordan Harris race clear and he made no mistake to open the scoring and, as the half closed, Ace High saw his effort come back of the post.
Five minutes into the second half and Town had added two further goals. Richards reminded Exmouth supporters of his capabilities with a 30-yard drive that, whilst deflected, was on target and then a typical surging run down the touchline followed by a pin point cross was headed home by Harris.
Further changes were made to both sides but the game remained competitive. Whilst Sidmouth failed to find the back of the net, they had several crosses that just narrowly failed to find their intended target and their manager, Danny Burwood, should be pleased with their overall performance.
A number of players self isolating forced the cancellation of Town’s trip to St Blazey last weekend but they were hopeful the game with Bideford on Wednesday and Saturday’s visit from Okehampton Argyle would go ahead.