Exmouth Town were beaten 2-1 at the Complete Infrastructure Stadium, by a resilient Bideford side, in the Southern League Division One South.

Goals from Josh Webber and Scott Robinson saw the visitors go into the second half 2-0, but despite a Tom Bath penalty and plenty of pressure, Town could only halve the deficit. 

The first ten minutes saw both sides figuring each other out, with no openings being created.

That would soon change, as a corner found the head of Mike Landricombe, whose effort was excellently saved by Michael Searle, before Bath’s rebound was blocked by the Bideford defence.

Theo Cutler, making his first start for Town, had his first strike on goal, which was saved comfortably by the goalkeeper.

There was some controversy after 15 minutes, as Samuel Wright slipped over with Ben Steer close by, and as it looked like the forward would be through on goal, the full-back handled the ball, with the Exmouth team arguing it was in the box, although the referee, who was close by, gave a free-kick.

Ollie Knowles found Aarron Denny in the box from the subsequent set-piece, but the touch was too heavy and it was cleared.

Bideford would have a great chance to go in front, as Webber was brought down in the box by Landricombe, and he would go on and convert the penalty, confidently powering the ball into the bottom-right corner.

Town may have felt hard done by as Steer raced through on goal, and with only Searle to beat, the goalkeeper appeared to handle the ball outside the box, which sparked protest from the Town bench and players, although nothing was given.

It would go from bad to worse for Town, as some sloppy defending allowed a superb cross to be delivered, which fell perfectly to Robinson, who headed home from close range.

The hosts should have got one back before the break, as a goalmouth scramble saw Bath have a shot blocked from inside the six-yard box, and Cutler’s follow up deflected over the bar.

Much like the first half, the second 45 started slowly, with neither team having any chances of note in the opening exchanges.

With just over an hour gone, a brilliant touch from Steer set Denny through on goal, but he dragged his shot wide.

Bideford would go up the other end in search of a third, although Jamie Hearsay’s strike was no issue for Frankie Phillips.

Exmouth would get a penalty when Steer was caught by Alexander Moyse, as the forward looked to get a ball across goal.

Bath would step up and dispatch the spot-kick, firing into the bottom left corner.

Town would go on the hunt for a winner, with some great goalkeeping from Searle denying Bath a chance to get onto Landricombe’s flick on.

Ben Griffith looked to make an impact off the bench, and he came very close to doing so when his curled effort from the edge of the box struck the centre of the post. 

Exmouth were throwing everything at getting an equaliser, but the visitors were defending excellently.

It was a spectacular free-kick from Phillips that provided the home side’s best stoppage time chance, as his cross was too far for any outfield players, but came agonisingly close to catching Searle out, as it just went wide.

Exmouth will be disappointed with the result, but have the chance to put that right when they host Melksham next Saturday.

ATTENDANCE: 500

LINE-UP: Phillips, Belsten (May, 87), High (Morison, 72), Landricombe, Riddell (McCue, 82), Knowles, Slater (Shipton, 67), Denny, Cutler (Griffith, 54), Bath, Steer.