LYME REGIS 1

COLYTON 2

THE curse of the Colyton ‘black cat’ struck Lyme Regis again as the Seasiders fell to a 2-1 defeat in their Devon & Exeter League Premier Division battle at Davey Fort.

Lyme have not beaten Colyton in four attempts since a 4-2 victory in their first fixture of 2020.

However, the trend looked under threat when Josh Rawlins showed a clear sign of his potential to score the opening goal.

Having been moved up from full-back, Rawlins finished off a scything through ball in arguably Lyme’s best move of the entire match.

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However, Lyme were unable to build on their advantage as touch and control let them down, together with a number of attacks bogged down by sloppy passing and lapses in concentration.

It meant Lyme began to drop deep as the game endured, forcing keeper Chris Higgs into a busy afternoon.

The veteran goalkeeper was in superb form, making a whole album of saves, but he could do nothing as Colyton scored twice in the second half.

Lyme allowed a routine ball to dissect their defence and the dangerous Callum Somers latched on to it before rounding Higgs for 1-1.

Lyme were then undone by Colyton’s extra pace as sub Kian Bedwell showed a clean pair of heels to the Seasiders before slotting past Higgs with ten minutes to go.

Home manager Julien Simier made a tactical switch in search of an equaliser and the Seasiders conjured one final chance with two minutes to go.

Dan Beer peeled off to the back post from a set-piece but the defender could not score with his header.

Reflecting on the defeat, Simier said: “They’re our bogey team, we can’t seem to be able to play our way, with our football. There’s something there that I don’t understand how to unlock.

“We seem to be up for it in the warm-up and then we were not on our top performance. You could see there were a few frustrated players.

“The ball wasn’t coming to feet. When the ball was, the tempo wasn’t right. The control wasn’t right.

“There’s always something technically that wasn’t going well for us that stopped us going forward quickly or forward at all. We couldn’t make that killer through ball, or that good cross.”

Lyme, sitting sixth, now prepare for their final match before Christmas at 11th-placed Dawlish United on Saturday (2.15pm).

Simier added: “We need the three points, we need the morale to get better.

“We had disappointing defeats going to Alphington and Sturminster. We’ve been losing heavily on fine margins.

“Even Colyton, we should’ve done better. My mission is to make sure on top of the three points we get back that feel-good factor, which we had from the start.”

Star players Fred Parsons (illness) and Joe Bond (groin) will not be risked but Ben Turner, Brad Rowe and Tyler Wellman could return.

Lyme: Higgs, Lewis (Wellman), G Knight, Beer, R Fowler, Bailey, Fellingham, Garrett, S Batey (Davies), Rendell (Durrant). Subs not used: Rinaldi, Broom.