PL Stoke & Torbay Police V Sidmouth Town 12th August 2023

[Dave]

Match Referee Brandon Hawkins

Referee Assistants Reg Cross & Robert Williams

Final Score Stoke & Torbay Police FC 1 Sidmouth Town AFC 4

Attendance 65

Match Preview.

While I have not covered a Stoke first team game since the 19th February 2022, I have actually covered more Stoke games than any other team. During the years I have witnessed the clubs highs and also their lows and it was always a ground I really enjoyed going to.

Stoke Gabriel AFC were the Division One East Runners Up in 2009/10, 2011/12 & 2012/13 and went one better in the 2013/14 season finishing as the league champions. The club was buzzing back then and its supporters enjoyed watching a great winning team.

Sadly the clubs two seasons playing in the Premier League ended up being a disastrous and disappointing affair as before a ball was even kicked in anger at the start of the 2014/15 season, the manager walked out taking a number of players with him. The team never really seemed to recover from this despite Tim Porter the new manager’s best efforts. Tim did find a way to keep the club in the Premier Division but any hopes of enjoying a much better second season in the Premier Division soon faded.

I know Tim Porter, the players and the club wanted to remain playing in the Premier Division as they enjoyed playing against the best teams from Cornwall. Living just a mile away from the ground myself, I also enjoyed being able to watch games at the Churchward Memorial Ground featuring many of the top teams that were playing in the Premier League.

There are times in life when it is better to take one step backwards in order to then take two steps forward and I may have been alone in my thinking, but I thought dropping back down to the Division One East was the right thing for the club at the time.

I think that case had been proved with new manager Nick Milton turning the fortunes of the team around on the pitch and returning the feel good factor at the club that all winning teams produce.

Move forward to the start of the 2020/ 2021 season and more troubled times for the club. As a result of a number of problems the club was forced to pull their 2nd team out of the SDFL and field a good number of those young players in their first team. They lost by fifteen goals to nil away to Torridgeside AFC and their game I covered on the 12th September 2020 against Crediton they lost by thirteen goals to nil.

The club was on its knees and for the start of the 2021/2022 season they had merged with the Torbay Police cub, a move I believe has saved the club. Sadly things did not improve on the pitch. I covered their third game of that season and witnessed their third defeat on the trot.

By the time I covered their next game against Torrington on the 19th February 2022 they had already played a total of 28 games, winning just one of them, drawing one and losing the other 26 games. They were bottom of the table in 20th place on just four points. More worryingly they had conceded a staggering 123 goals and only managed to score 35 giving them a minus 88 goal difference. They lost the game by two goals to one.

A season playing in the Devon league followed where they managed to finish in forth place in the table and were granted a return to the Peninsula East Premier Division for the 2023/2024 season.

The Bees lost their opening game of the season by two goals to nil away to Crediton, but got their first point of the board in a three all draw at home on Wednesday night against Teignmouth AFC, a game they were winning at halftime by three goals to one.

This season has to be about ensuring they stay in this league, anything else will be a bonus and today they have a good chance of securing their first win of the new season.

Sidmouth Town were members of the Exeter and District League for many decades. They won the renamed Devon and Exeter League Premier Division in 2010–11, having finished as runners-up the previous season. They were subsequently promoted to the South West Peninsula League Division One East. At the end of 2018–19 the league was restructured, and Sidmouth successfully applied for promotion to the Premier Division East.

Sidmouth have only played the one league game so far which ended up in a defeat away to Ivybridge Town by three goals to one. They will also hope to get their first win of the season.



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Match report.


After watching our England Ladies team beat Colombia and reach the semi-final of the world cup, it was time to drive to the ground. I want to start by thanking the Bees for their welcome and hospitality, the best I have ever enjoyed covering a football match. One very nice man brought up the team sheets for me to photo. Tim Perrin brought me over a delicious cup cake and club chairman Daniel Muirden sorted out a nice latte, nothing was too much trouble for them.

Forget the final score line, this young Bees team are better than that might suggest, I would go as far to say Sidmouths first goal was against the run of play. The Bees front players started well, but their defence was poor early on in the game and the reason they soon fell three goals behind in the match. From that point it was always going to be an uphill battle as the game was as good as lost, but huge credit to the way the Bees stuck to the task and put everything into their game.

This Bees side with grow and learn with every game and they have players that really caught my eye today, sort out the defence and on today’s evidence the first win of the season is not that far away.

The match referee got the game underway and the Bees went straight on the attack and won an early free kick just outside the Sidmouth box. Saul Vaines took the kick but fired his effort over the crossbar. Saul soon had another chance to put his side in the lead when he broke into the left hand side of the box. This time his shot just went wide of the left hand post.

Sidmouth then look a very early lead in the match after winning a free kick out on the left hand side. The ball was fired high into the Bees box and not dealt with by the defence and the ball finally dropped down for Tierman West to fire home.

Before the Bees even had time to recover they fell even further behind. ( I do know who all the goal scorers were just not the order, so will amend this report when I do)

A Sidmouth player came in from the left close to the goal line and from a very tight angle fired the ball into the back of the net. It all looked a bit too easy and the Bees really needed to tighten up at the back.

Alfie Slough for the Bees was inside the Sidmouth box and did well to get a shot away, but his effort cleared the crossbar. Just when you thought things could not get any worse for the Bees, sadly it did.

A long hopeful ball was pumped up from and went over the Bees defence; Ashley Small was onto the ball straight away and lifted it over the keeper into the back of the net. On the balance of play I just felt the score line was rather hard on the Bees as Sidmouth were not three goals better.

My Bees man of the match then treated us to the best goal of the match; Saul Vaines hit such a powerful low shot from outside the Sidmouth box that had the keeper rooted to the spot. Was a comeback on? Could the Bees find another goal before halftime?

Sadly not and once again I wonder if the defence might have done better. I was looking through my camera leans and a ball in from the left looked like it was going over the crossbar. I then heard celebrations for their forth goal. I was told the ball had not gone over and was hooked back towards the back post where it was knocked in.

The Bees had one final effort just before the break; Max Hamnett hit a decent shot from the edge of the box just wide of the left hand post. The match referee blew up for halftime and I expect the Bees manager was saying to himself, we have not played badly, how are we so far behind.

Sidmouth came out very early for the second half, while the Bees made the most of the break and I expect the manager had lots to say.

The second half got underway and soon came the first booking of the game. I believe there were only two yellow cards shown in the whole game, Theodore Rad was the unlucky one, but he did commit a clear foul that may have been worthy of the card.

The second half was a very even affair an often end to end. Sidmouths Nat Cooper had a golden opportunity to put his side further in front. Standing on the penalty spot inside the Bees box virtually unmarked, he headed the ball well wide of the target. From the edge of the Bees box Liam Carey blasted the ball over the crossbar.

Alex Cooper in goal for the Bees went down holding his back and was unable to continue in the match. Not really sure what happened next as another player from the dugout pulled on the keepers jersey. But the lineman’s was not happy with something and called the referee over. Then someone else put the shirt on and came onto the pitch. I can only assume the first player was not on the team sheet?

Saul Vaines was working so hard, winning balls and going on runs taking on any players that got near to him. One great run saw him get a shot away that only just cleared the crossbar. The Bees Samuel Healey had a good chance to pull one back for his side, but his header went over the crossbar.

The Bees won two corners on the trot that came to nothing and a promising free kick out on the left that was hit far to hard and behind for a goal kick. But the Bees were playing much better as a whole team than they did in the first half and I felt they deserved a second goal at least. Saul Vaines hit another 25 yard effort wide and that was it really as the referee blew up for fulltime.

As I did not cover Devon League games last season (well only one) it meant I was only at this ground for one of the second teams games last season. Today it hit me just how much I have missed covering games here and I will be back a number of times this season for sure.