LYME REGIS 3

CULLOMPTON RANGERS II 2

LYME Regis boss Robin Townsend admitted the Seasiders were “a little despondent” in the aftermath of their 3-2 win over Cullompton Rangers Seconds in Devon and Exeter League Division One.

Townsend’s men established a 3-1 lead at Davey Fort courtesy of a Chris Herbst double and a Declan Ellis strike.

But, after seeing their opponents reduced to nine men for two sin-bins, the Seasiders conceded a late goal when Rangers returned to their full complement of players.

Speaking to the Bridport News, Townsend was “quite happy” despite conceding Rangers’ second goal.

He said: “Everyone was a little despondent because of the way it went. I’m all in all quite happy but not over the moon.

“The first 10 minutes we weren’t particularly good. It was one of those games where we went 1-0 up probably against the run of play.

“But we caught them on the break three or four times and at half-time we should have been 3-0 up. Right at the end of the half we gave away a free-kick and their guy has hit an undefendable goal.

“Second half we were miles, miles better. We made it 2-1 through Declan and then five minutes after they’ve gone to hit a back-pass, under-hit it and Chris has sneaked in to make it 3-1.”

Townsend then described the remaining action as “chaos” after seeing two Rangers players sin-binned.

“Then a bit of chaos happened. The sin bin rule came in for one player and then a minute after they had another sent off. We were playing against nine men but to be fair to them they were the better side.

“We found it really difficult to play against nine men for whatever reason. Then when it came back to 11 men we gave away a free-kick and their striker has turned and hit it in the top corner,” he said.

Lyme retain their leadership of the standings and have a four-point gap to Lapford having played one game more.

Seasiders: Higgs, Bailey, Wellman, Day, Turner, Parsons, James, Bevis (Bowditch 55), Daniels, Ellis, Herbst (White 70). Sub not used: Rowe