New signing Lukey White made the perfect start to his Sidmouth Town career as he scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Marjon.

In their opening game of the 2020/21 South West Peninsula League Premier East campaign, the Vikings opened the scoring via the head of Tom Diamond before White also headed home following a Marjon equaliser.

Manager Danny Burwood said: “It was a good win, the boys worked really hard. I wouldn’t say we were firing off all cylinders on the day but that can be put down to a little bit of nerves.

“I think it was a case of they put such high expectations of themselves. Even though it’s the first game of the season it still doesn’t feel like the season has started properly.

“I think they expected to play better which is a good thing as a manager.”

Burwood was particularly impressed by new additions White and Jack Rawlings who both contributed to the win. He said: “Jack is in there talking all the time and working hard while Lukey does what he does best and got us the winner.

“He [White] was chuffed to bits as he wanted to get that goal to prove he can play at this standard of football.”

Following Diamond’s first half goal, Marjon pulled one back in the second period and it was triple substitution with 15 minutes to go that brought fresh life into the game.

Burwood said: “With 15 minutes to go we made three subs to get fresh legs and to change things round. We brought Ben Clay on and he brought a little bit more vocals into the side which is what we lacking due to being a young side.

“I think at 1-0 it looked like it was going to stay like that then we really had to fight in the end to get our deserved win.”

It was the Vikings’ first competitive fixture since March and Burwood said: “It still really didn’t feel like the season had started properly. There were a few players that can’t actually believe the season has started after such a delay. Everyone at the club wants to give this season a good push and improve from last year.

“I’m pretty sure if they keep on improving not just on what they did in the first game but also during pre-season then I am pretty sure we will reach that target and improve on what we did last year.”

On Saturday (September 120 Town travel to Dartmouth who were 2-1 winners of their opening fixture - a visit to Axminster Town last Saturday and Town are also in away action next Tuesday (September 15) when they travel to Cullompton Rangers (7.30pm). Ahead of the trip to Dartmouth, the Town boss says: “Dartmouth is a funny old place to go. We went there four times last year and picked up one of our rare wins in the cup. It’s always been a close battle between ourselves and Dartmouth so I am expecting a tough one.

“We will be gunning for three points as it is one of those games that we are capable of winning but it’s another away journey scratched off the list.

“The first four or five games are horrendous for us with three away games in a row and there’s some real tests coming up so if we can bag these points early then we will put ourselves in good stead.”