Falmouth Town 4-0 Ilfracombe Town

Falmouth Town 4-0 Ilfracombe Town

Falmouth Town took another step towards a possible league title with a convincing win against Ilfracombe Town, avenging their defeat at the beginning of the season in the reverse fixture, in front of a modest crowd of 318. Maybe the Town faithful were saving themselves for the massive away game in 2 days time against title-rivals Helston Athletic.

Falmouth gave new signing Andy Elcock his first start in place of Jack Webber, and also opted for Cam Hutchison in midfield in place of Jared Sims. Otherwise, the starting line-up remained unchanged.

Falmouth got into the game early and it was after just two minutes that the first chance was created. Luke Barner was released down the right and drove into the area. However he was unable to pull the ball back to the oncoming Oscar Massey and instead passed it across the goal, the defender cleared the ball only to see it hit Massey’s shin and roll harmlessly out of play.

Falmouth continued to dominate and after 14 minutes they forced a corner from the left. Oscar Massey delivered and found Bradley Leivers unopposed on the edge of the 6 yard box. He duly dispatched the chance past visiting keeper Olly Saunders and Falmouth were one up.

A few minutes later and after typical pressure exerted on the Ilfracombe defence from Rubin Wilson, Barner ran on to a loose ball down the right and beat the keeper with his shot, only to see it hit the post and rebound to safety.

There were no further goals in the half as Falmouth, although not threatened by Ilfracombe, were unable to create any chances of note with a few of the players not being quite on their game.

The second half continued in much the same vein until 11 minutes in. Massey breaking down the left and delivering a great ball into the 6 yard box for his strike partner Wilson, but just as Wilson shaped to shoot, he lost his footing and the chance was gone.

Four minutes later and Falmouth were able to add to their lead. Tom Annear was on corner duty this time on the right-hand side, and whipped a trademark effort to the edge of the 6-yard box, finding Cam Hutchison to add to his impressive tally this season with a glancing header.

17 minutes into the half, from another Annear corner, the ball fell at the feet of James Ward at the far post, who hit a powerful shot which just grazed the top of the cross bar. Falmouth were really in the ascendancy now and with the Helston game approaching, they had the luxury of being able to substitute some of their players. Hutchison and Wilson were the first to be replaced followed shortly by Andreas Calleja-Stayne, Luke Barner and Oscar Massey. However, this had little effect on the play as the Falmouth continued to dominate.

A third goal was duly scored on 72 minutes when James Swan managed to get to the bye-line down the right and square the ball to Oscar Massey. He dispatched it past the keeper from just outside of the 6-yard box to keep up his goal-scoring record for Falmouth, since his switch from Barnstaple Town late last year.

The final goal was scored by substitute Luke Brabyn in the 85^th minute after some great approach play from Bradley Leivers and Jack Webber. The latter with a flick over the head of the visitors right-back followed by a pull-back to Brabyn who hit it first time past Saunders.

So a comfortable victory for Falmouth, but much of the F-Troops attention was taken by the events at Mill Road where in-form Barnstaple Town were hosting Helston Athletic. Amidst great delight from the Town Fans, the news came through that Helston were trailing 2-0 at half-time. However, within 5 minutes of the restart it was 2-1 and minutes later Helston equalised, only for Barnstaple to regain the lead soon after. It remained at 3-2 until the 85^th minute when Helston drew level again. Going into the game on Thursday evening at Kellaway Park, Falmouth lead Helston by 3 points but with an inferior goal difference and with Helston having a game in-hand. Nothing other than a Falmouth win will keep Falmouth’s title challenge in their own hands so it will be a massive game, which will have a major say on who will win the Toolstation Western League this season.