Barnes at the double as Upottery see off Sidmouth Town

Upottery were 5-1 winners when they entertained Sidmouth Town in a Macron League top flight game.

Tom Barnes (2), Ryan Vickery, Jamie Girton and an own goal accounted for the Glebe Park men's goals.

Upottery boss Dan Prettejohn said: 'We ought to have had eight or nine, but poor finishing and some very rusty players meant we had to settle for a nap hand.'

He continued: 'We had spent so long not playing that I told the lads before the game there was no excuse for any lack of energy and we made the flying start I had hoped for with three goals inside the first 12 minutes.

'Then came the frustration, for me, of a 'lull' in our tempo, but a few words at half time got the lads back firing again and it turned out to be a very comfortable win for us.'

The game was only match number 16 of the league term for Upottery and they still have another 14 to play to complete their league season.

Prettejohn says: 'The fixture congestion this season is going to make life tough for everyone, especially with the plan being to get teams to play Saturday and Sunday. However, in our case, on the basis of 'every cloud having a silver lining, the bonus for us is that 90 per cent of my team won't have played nine of the current 14 games so we ought to have no problem with getting teams out over the closing two months. Also, if anything, playing three times a week will actually be good for us as it might allow me to get some continuity of availability and, in turn, performance which ought to afford us the chance to go on a decent run and climb to where I think this team should, be in terms of the Premier Division table.'

This Saturday (March 14), Upottery face a trip to a Bampton side that have still got two thirds of their league season to play and have won six of the seven home games they have had so far this season.

Prettejohn says: 'Personally I relish games like this when we go toe-to-toe with one of the best teams at this level. As ever, it all depends for me on availability and I'd like to think the lads will fancy this game as one in which they can make a statement.

'There's plenty left for us in terms of what we can achieve this season. We have 42 league points to play for an I want us to bank as many of them as possible and that will enable us to make, at the very least, a top six finish.'

Upottery's away league record this season is poor. In seven away games to far that have lost five, drawn one and won only one.

Prettejohn says: 'Given the stop-start nature of this season so far form has been very difficult to gauge, but now we have a chance to, hopefully, get a run of games going and we'll see where that takes us.'