COLYTON 3 LYME REGIS 1

LYME Regis succumbed 3-1 to near neighbours Colyton in the Joma Devon & Exeter Premier Division East.

Previous to the clash, Lyme had gone three weeks without playing having only completed one league game amid two straight postponements.

Despite a lack of match sharpness, Lyme’s fresh legs gave the Seasiders a fast start with the visitors enjoying the more cutting moves and monopolising possession.

Colyton weathered the early storm and took the lead when Jake Collier pounced on keeper Chris Higgs’ parry, stemming from an excellent initial stop.

Higgs was at fault for Colyton’s second, dropping a weak free-kick and allowing Callum Somers to net from one yard out.

Higgs atoned for his error with an important stop to deny the clean-through Somers, which paved the way for Lyme to cut the deficit.

Constructing a flowing move with real synergy, Lyme’s Brad Rowe headed home to give the Seasiders a sniff of a positive result with 25 minutes to play.

Instead it was Colyton who put Lyme’s revival to bed as Billy Knox slammed past Higgs from an acute angle to give the hosts their third win from four league games.

Speaking to the Bridport News, Lyme joint-boss Mark Bailey confessed he needed to see more desire from the Seasiders.

“We’ve got a lot of young lads that are really talented footballers,” Bailey said.

“They just need to learn that maybe that’s not enough and sometimes you need to match that with fight and desire.

“It’s a classic problem with young footballers that they’re happy to play their football – they’re what we’d call ‘fair weather players’.

“The first half an hour we were on top and we just didn’t take our chances. As soon as they got the first our heads dropped.

“They definitely outfought and out-battled us, which is always disappointing. You could argue with three weeks off it does make a lot of difference to sharpness and cohesion.”

Lyme host Dawlish United at the newly-revamped Davey Fort on Saturday (3pm).

Seasiders: Higgs, Bowditch, Knight, K Wellman, T Wellman, Fellingham, Jaques, Parsons, Pollard-Jones, Rowe, Bond. Subs: Rawlins, Rendell.