Falmouth Town 2-0 Torpoint Athletic
Falmouth Town cruised to a convincing 2-0 win on Tuesday night against fellow Western League side Torpoint Athletic at Bickland Park in the second round of the Cornwall Senior Cup, with goals from Luke Barner and Alex Wharton, in front of a crowd of 275.
Town started the match brightly, dominating possession, and this was the pattern for the majority of the night. With the exception of one breakaway attack after 10 minutes from Torpoint which was thwarted by Morgan Coxhead playing a sweeper-keeper role, it was Falmouth who made all the running. On fifteen minutes, Town laid siege to the Torpoint goal but could not make it count as Torpoint twice cleared the ball off the line with some resolute defending, the ball eventually falling to Bradley Leivers 15 yards out who steered the ball wide from an acrobatic overhead kick. Five minutes later and Falmouth made it 1-0. A free-kick from mid-way into Torpoint’s half on the right-hand side was drilled in from Cam Hutchison. Luke Barner got in front of his defender and headed it past Rickard in the Torpoint goal for Town to take a deserved lead. Falmouth added to their lead on thirty-eight minutes, when after further pressure, and more last-ditch Torpoint defending, the ball broke to Sims on the right hand side of the area. He floated a cross to Alex Wharton who volleyed the ball spectacularly past Ryan Rickard. 2-0 to Falmouth at half-time and a fair score-line given their superiority.
The second half started brightly for Torpoint as they dominated possession for the first 10 minutes without really creating any chances of note. Ryan Richards never stopped running throughout the game, but he was unable to get the better of the fast-improving Kayden Gordon-Dunn in the centre of the Town Defence. Another solid performance from him and he lessened the impact of losing Captain James Ward who was unavailable for this game. The remainder of the half reverted to the previous pattern of Town dominance although some of the inter-passing and final balls were going awry and so Town could not add to the score-line. Around the hour-mark, Falmouth introduced Ollie Walker who was home for the week from his work in London. There followed an exhibition of pace, power and trickery as he dominated the Torpoint right-back. During a particularly impressive run, and having already left 3 or 4 players in his wake, he pushed the ball past the aforementioned defender and set off after it. In desperation, the defender launched into a rugby-style tackle, a good 10 yards from the ball! Fortunately for him, he escaped with a yellow card when many of the crowd, players and coaching staff expected something far worse. The introduction of Jacob Grange down the right side and resulting switch of Luke Barner to the No:10 role seemed to energise Town and they started getting to the by-line and getting some crosses in but were unable to pick out a forward or oncoming midfielder to capitalise on them. 2-0 the final score then and Falmouth look forward to a potentially very tough home FA Vase tie on Saturday against Moneyfields of the Velocity Wessex Football League. Moneyfields sit at the top of the league having won their last 12 games in league and cup before a surprise 6-1 defeat to Cowes Sport on Tuesday night in their league cup, albeit with a possibly weakened side and with one eye on Saturday. Callum Laycock scored their only goal making it 20 for the season. Fellow 20 goal striker Ryan Pennery was not named in the squad. Moneyfields have taken the option of an overnight stay on Friday night and so should arrive well-prepared for the game.
Man of the Match as nominated by Falmouth Town: Jared Sims.
Falmouth Town: Morgan Coxhead. James Swan. Bradley Leivers. Tom Fisher. Tom Annear©. Kayden Gordon-Dunn. Luke Barner. Jared Simms. Luke Brabyn. Cam Hutchinson. Alex Wharton. Subs: Max Everall. Jacob Grange. Jayden Gilbert. Charlie Edney. Ollie Walker.
Torpoint Athletic: Ryan Rickard. Jason Richards. Darren Hicks©. Jordan Rundle. Sam Hillson. Elliott Crawford. Paul Heveran. Owen Haslam. Ryan Smith. Ryan Richards. Josh Pope. Subs: Louis Rooney. Dom Murray. Mike Lucas. James Rowe.
