Sid & Ott C 2 - 2 Taunton CS A

With the defeat at the hands of Mid Somerset still on the minds of some of the TCS team (and the opposition umpires who couldn't help but have a little dig) they travelled to sunny Sidmouth with the aim of getting the season back on track. TCS fielded a much changed side missing key players Bill 'the hammer' Horner, Jason 'the Mexican' Harris (seeking red coats rather than green cards on his trip to Butlins)and Khonnor Neale (camping it up in the chilly German wilderness).

The match started brightly with TCS enjoying the early attacks. Continuing to press down the left flank, the ball moved into the D and a short corner was awarded. A clinical strike from Jim Smith from the top of the D struck the backboard and TCS felt comfortable at 1 - 0. They were unable to consolidate the feeling of control and Sidmouth began to press the counter attack. Exposing huge gaps in the TCS defence with every attack was putting a great strain on the TCS goalkeeper Julian Brown but he stood strong and the sides went into the half time break with TCS leading 1 - 0.

Immediately after the half time break Sidmouth turned the screw and really ramped up the pressure on the TCS defence. They quickly drew level after some slick play out to the left and some precision passing found a man clear at the back post for a tap in. Sidmouth were in the ascendancy and were beginning to show a degree of skilful play that, at times, TCS simply could not cope with. Some further chances came the way of Sidmouth and the TCS defence was penetrated again midway through the second half. The passing game Sidmouth hooked up was simply to quick and accurate for the TCS team to contend with. 2 - 1 up and Sidmouth looked every bit the better team.

TCS were not making it easy for themselves with a lack of shape to the team; weak, poor, inaccurate passing; Lack of meaningful attacks into the D and a loss of composure in possession of the ball. With seconds left on the umpires watch there was time for one last attack. A surging drive from the skipper Dan Adams elevated the ball into the final third and a foot penalty drew a free hit for TCS and a final chance to snatch a point from the gaping jaws of defeat. Time ticked over as the TCS side set up for the final push but the umpire charitably allowed the final attack to play out.

Steve Grenfell nudged the ball to the right and gave himself a yard of space to drive the ball into the D. In a melee of players the ball received an excellently timed and skilfully played deflection and ricocheted into the top corner of the Sidmouth net. Cheers rang around the TCS players, despair in the opposite camp as 'the great white north' Karl Patrick wheeled away celebrating his second league goal for the club and his second on this very pitch. The faint sound of 'they don't deserve that' came from the Sidmouth central midfielder - while that may be completely accurate based on the second half performance, as ISCA will tell you, the game is 70ish minutes long and you need to play them all.

Overall, this was a point well salvaged by TCS in a game that the league table suggested should have been a comfortable win. A very good Sidmouth side with some very talented young players pushed TCS all the way and, on the balance of play, probably deserved the three points but in the end the spoils were shared 2 - 2.

Fortunately, in other results in the league, Ashmoor recorded their second loss of the campaign and ISCA and Yeovil played out a 1 - 1 draw meaning that a disappointing result for TCS in the match resulted in a one point extension of their lead over the league. With Ashmoor and ISCA playing each other next week TCS will be hoping for another helpful result.

The man of the match award for today's match went to Ben Pressly-Smith for some strong plays on the left wing. DOTD went to the entire team for playing exceedingly poorly between the first and last goals of the game.