Falmouth Town manager Andrew Westgarth felt a draw would have been a fair result after his side conceded an injury-time winner in their 3-2 defeat at Mousehole on Saturday.
The Seagulls took the lead early on from a fine free-kick from new signing Moussa Diallo before Tim Nixon scored twice in three minutes at the end of the first half – the latter from a sublime free-kick of his own – to turn the match on its head.
Mousehole got themselves back on terms early in the second half with a good individual goal from Diallo, and just when it seemed that both sides would be sharing the points, Andy Watkins bundled the ball in from a corner in the first minute of stoppage time to break Town hearts.
The defeat means Town are still searching for their first points on the road this season, and while the manner of Saturday’s loss was a tough one to take, Westgarth was still in an upbeat mood after the game.
“To concede the last-minute goal was so disappointing but I can’t fault the boys for effort and application,” Westgarth said. “They’re a good side and they’re always going to have a lot of possession and they’re always going to ask questions of you, but I thought defensively we restricted them to not a lot.
“If you look at their goals the first was a free-kick from [Diallo], the second goal you could call it a bit of individual brilliance, and for the winner in the last minute, Cam [Hutchison] has hit the bar at one end and then they go up the other end and score off a corner.
“It’s just the way our luck’s going, you could look at it again and say we could have defended better, but that could have ricocheted anywhere and it just happens to hit the guy at the back post and [Watkins] has a tap-in.
“I think a point would have been a fair result for us, but as disappointing it is, there were definitely a lot of positives.”
One of those positives is the continued form of Nixon, who notched his fifth and sixth goals of an excellent start to the 2022/23 campaign for the Town winger.
Nixon hauled the visitors level in the 41st minute with a cool, composed finish, before firing in a sensational third free-kick of the season off the underside of the crossbar a couple of minutes later.
“[He’s had] a great start to the season,” Westgarth said. “It’s very similar to last year when he started the season really strong. We all know Nixon’s quality, he’s a top player, he’s started the season really well and long may it continue.”
He added “Nixon’s first goal was a great bit of composure. The keeper saved it and it came to him with just the goalkeeper to beat and he took a touch and slotted it in, a great finish. Then his free-kick is something else, a brilliant free-kick.
“We defended really well and restricted them to hardly anything. Zach [Telling] was in goal and he didn’t really have much to do, he made a couple of saves which you would expect. We’ve had a fair amount of chances ourselves and I think a point would have been a fair result.”
Town return to the home comforts of Bickland Park for a pair of Western League matches this weekend. Wednesday night sees Town entertain Helston Athletic (kick-off 7.45pm) before Millbrook make the trip down on Saturday (3pm).