Falmouth Town 3-1 Crediton United
Falmouth Town made it through a tricky tie against Crediton United from the South West Pennsula League East division in front of a healthy crowd at Bickland Park.
Falmouth started the brighter team and a corner after 6 minutes resulted in a header from James Ward just going wide. Crediton came in to the game after some high scoring league wins and they looked capable and confident all over the pitch. They didn’t allow Falmouth to settle in to their normal passing game which meant the first half was a bit scrappy with Falmouth occasionally creating a half-chance here and there. One such chance came after 30 minutes when the promising Jacob Grange picked the ball up with his back to goal, 5 yards outside of the Crediton box. Having drawn three defenders to him, and after some neat footwork, he cleverly threaded the ball through to Luke Brabyn who was unable to get a shot away to trouble the Crediton keeper.
The half finished at 0-0 with Crediton only troubling the Falmouth defence once when a stray square ball found it’s way to a Crediton forward, closely monitored by Tom Annear. after 15 minutes The ball broke loose and Annear brought the forward down resulting in a booking for the Falmouth man.
With Andrew Westgarth missing for the day, Falmouth were marshalled from the sidelines by Tommy Matthews and James Miller. They must have had lots to say at half-time as Falmouth started the 2nd half much more brightly. Within 2 minutes, an Annear freekick found James Ward at the back post and his commanding leap enabled him to steer an excellent header back across goal. Luke Brabyn was there to head the ball home in front of the Packet End.
Another 5 minutes passed with Town with their tails up and dominating the play. A corner was won and Tom Annear found James Ward again with an in-swinger. A goallmouth scramble ensued and the ball found it’s way to Jack Webber 30 yards out. Reminiscent of his famous equalising goal against Longlevens in the same competition a few years ago, Jack Webber hit the ball with his left foot, beating the keeper as he watched it sail into the top corner of the goal. 2-0 to Falmouth and they were now in control.
Town then made some substitutions, bringing on Cam Hutchison, Luke Barner and Jayden Gilbert. Crediton were still unable to trouble the excellent Town defence, despite Ward having to go off with a head injury sustained during the lead-up to the 2nd goal. Max Everall had an excellent game at left-back in the absence of the injured James Swan. Another young player being given minutes in the first team and growing in stature game by game. Similarly, Jacob Grange again looked comfortable at this level with some great close-quarter skills.
The game looked over with 5 minutes to go when a rare Crediton attack resulted in the ball falling to a Crediton forward just inside the area and he beat goalkeeper Morgan Coxhead from a fairly tight angle. A game that Falmouth really should have sewn up was now back on again. Falmouth started to give the ball away more as Crediton got on top. Town had Coxhead to thank for saving them after he made a great diving save to his left to keep them ahead.
With the contest nearly over, and Crediton committing numbers forwards, the ball broke to Cam Hutchison, He drove into the area and squared the ball to fellow substitute Jayden Gilbert who beat the keeper with a good finish.
Game over at 3-1 to Falmouth and they look forward to hearing the draw for the next round on Monday afternoon.
Not Helston yet please!