TORPOINT Athletic’s hopes of reaching the Southern League for the first time in their long history are over following a 2-0 defeat by Devon outfit Sidmouth Town.

Tuesday’s 4-1 shocker against Wellington in the final league game of the season, where victory would have sealed promotion, was followed by another lacklustre performance in the play-off semi-final on Saturday.

Sidmouth, who won the South West Peninsula League Premier East title last year and scraped into the play-offs in fifth place, were deserved winners thanks to second half goals by skipper Nathan Cooper and Zack Williams.

They now go through to the final where they will play Paulton Rovers, who beat Clevedon Town 3-1 in the other semi-final on Saturday.

Quite what happened to Torpoint in the last week of their season is difficult to pinpoint. After putting together a run of 15 successive home league wins, they suddenly ran out of ideas against Wellington and failed to bring any new ones to the table when facing Sidmouth.

They looked edgy from the start, there was far too much panic in their play in the opening 20 minutes when calm and patience was needed, and they created very few chances.

The service to striker Curtis Damerell was poor – he would have needed a stepladder to deal with most of the passes lumped up in the air in his direction – and there was very little creativity from midfield.

In terms of decent football, the first half was a write-off. Neither side managed to conjure an opportunity and for both goalkeepers it must have been their most comfortable all season.

The second half was better, but only because Sidmouth stepped up their game and broke the deadlock four minutes after the restart.

Good work by Zack Williams on the right edge of the penalty area saw him cut in and deliver a left foot cross which Cooper met with a glancing header past Ryan Rickard.

It was almost 2-0 five minutes later when Phil Mendonca was played through the middle with only Rickard to beat, but the keeper made a brilliant double save to deny him.

But Sidmouth did double their lead in the 69th minute when Louis Spalding’s cross was blocked, but Torpoint twice failed to clear, allowing Mendonca to jink past his man before laying the ball across the six-yard box for Williams to slot home.

That was virtually game over for Torpoint. They peppered the box from corners and throw-ins but Sidmouth keeper Elliot Driver dealt with everything brilliantly.

He also made a great save in the 88th minute, tipping the ball over the bar to stop Damerell’s looping header, but he got no credit for it because the referee astonishingly awarded a goal-kick.

Torpoint argued their case for a corner, but it was all in vain, which rather summed up their afternoon.

TORPOINT ATHLETIC: Ryan Rickard; Dave Barker, Freddie Chapman (Sam Hepworth, 70), Owen Haslam (James Rowe, 74), Callum O’Brien, Elliott Crawford (capt), Darren Hicks (Tom Payne, 55), Rikki Shepherd (Gary Hird, 55), Curtis Damerell, Sam Pearson, Callum Martindale (Joe Rapson, 55).

SIDMOUTH TOWN: Elliot Driver; Isaac Furness, Harry Brew-Cull, Jack Mills, Nathan Cooper, Dan Western, Louis Spalding, Cholwe Hachipuka (Aidan Bown, 90+2), Will Collins (Jamie Vaughan-Ryall, 46), Phil Mendonca, Zack Williams (Levi Hill, 90).

Torpoint Athletic man-of-the-match: Owen Haslam.