Sidmouth Town start season with win over Plymouth Marjon

The Vikings took a while to find their stride against the youngsters in blazing heat and a mistimed challenge from Tiernan West gifted the visitors the chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot.

And after Liam Carey had penalty appeals of his own turned down, the Vikings began to apply more pressure on the visiting defence.

It was all square when Ash Mathews headed the ball back across the area for man of the match Ashley Small to volley home on the turn, with Tom Bray and Carey producing positive runs to keep the hosts on the front foot before the break.

The Vikings began to increase the pressure after the restart, with captain Danny Pym covering plenty of ground trying to link up play.

And on the rare occasions when Marjon came forward or put balls into the box, they were dealt with by the impressive Mathews, making his second debut for the club after returning in the summer.

Sidmouth kept getting into dangerous positions, with shots starting to find their range, but they could not get the go-ahead goal.

After a drinks break, they brought on Dan Clay and Will Jenkins in a bird to get their noses in front, with Clay marshalling the midfield with simple but effective passing.

And this allowed skipper Pym to move further up the pitch, with Jenkins getting a chance from 10 yards after the ball had been pulled back, but firing straight at the keeper.

Refusing to let their heads drop, the Vikings finally moved 2-1 up when a great passage of play was finished off by Jenkins, who slid the ball past the oncoming keeper.

And Sidmouth then made sure of the points with a third goal as Pym combined well with Carey and, after a scramble, was on hand to force the ball home.

Jenkins thought he had scored again in the closing stages but saw it ruled out by the officials after Town had picked the Marjon defence apart.

Sidmouth head to Torridgeside on Saturday, then host Teignmouth on Tuesday (7.30pm).