Bideford 1; Falmouth Town 2.
Luke Forward 61’ Oscar Massey 29’
Jack Symons 73’

Att: 193.

Falmouth Town continued their impressive start to the season with another hard-fought away win against their relatively near neighbours Bideford, in this Southern League Division One clash at The Sports Field. An opening goal from Oscar Massey was answered early in the second half with a deserved equaliser from Bideford’s Luke Forward but it was the fast-improving Jack Symons’ first time effort that decided the game and sent all three points home to Bickland Park with only 17 minutes remaining.
Arguably Falmouth Town’s most impressive performer this season, Luke Barner, was unavailable and Olly Evans lined up in his position wide on the right. Olly Walker was named on the bench and Jack Symons started in the #10 role.
Falmouth had a lucky escape early doors when, after 5 minutes, they were caught trying to play out from the back and the ball ended up at the feet of Bideford striker Jordan Ewing. Luckily for the visiting side Ewing was unable to get a shot away and the chance came to nothing.
Another opportunity soon after was also spurned by the home side when a cross from wide on the right found Ewing again, but he could only scoop his shot over the bar from the edge of the 6-yard box.
Bideford continued to dominate the first part of the half forcing Falmouth to defend lots of crosses. Making use of their big pitch, Bideford were moving the ball around well and were winning many of the physical duels as they pushed forward searching for the opening goal. However, they didn’t account for Falmouth’s pace on the break, and just before the half-hour mark, it was Falmouth that struck first.
A defence-splitting pass from Jack Symons played in Oscar Massey who beat the offside trap and outpaced the chasing defenders. Homing in on goal he calmly steered the ball past Bideford keeper Marco Radovanovic and into the goal to make it 1-0 to Falmouth.
The remaining part of the half was much more even with Bideford’s Luke Forward looking very lively and Finn King-Smith showing some good touches in the midfield areas. Falmouth skipper Jared Sims was also having an excellent game, making lots of tackles and interceptions and using the ball wisely on every occasion.
Falmouth retained their lead going into the break, but Bideford started the stronger in the 2nd half, again asking questions especially down the flanks. Falmouth still looked dangerous when Bideford lost possession though, and at around the 10 minute mark Liam Prynn was played in behind, but went to ground under a challenge in the penalty area. Referee Mark King, who had an assured game throughout, waved away the protests and no penalty was awarded. Six minutes later, Bideford claimed a deserved equaliser. Another cross into the Falmouth box from the left was not cleared and the ball broke to Luke Forward who converted from the corner of the 6 yard box.
Bideford then missed a gilt-edged chance to take the lead. A similar move down the left resulted in a cross to the far post but the on-rushing Bideford midfielder skewed his effort wide with the goal at his mercy.
Bideford continued in the ascendancy with Falmouth being forced to sit deep, but somewhat against the run of play, they put together a high quality move to take the lead again in the 73rd minute.
Another probing ball was played through to Liam Prynn, who played off the shoulders of the Bideford centre-backs all evening, and he ran in behind before picking out Jack Symons with an intelligent cut-back. Arriving into the box at pace, Symons fired a first time shot past Radovanovic to make it 2-1 to the visitors.
Bideford huffed and puffed for the remainder of the game and started to play long balls to try to force the mistake from the Falmouth rear-guard. However, centre-backs Harrison Jewell and Tom Annear held firm, and the clock ran down including 6 minutes of stoppage time for Falmouth to claim their 3rd win on the road this season. With other results on the night, and the subsequent Wednesday evening, Falmouth now sit in 6th position in the league and firmly in the play-off positions. On Saturday they host an interesting 6th versus 7th tie at Bickland Park when they welcome Bishops Cleeve, in front of what will hopefully be a big and vocal Packet End.
Exciting times for the club indeed!

Bideford: Marko Radovanovic, Henry Richards, Sam Gleeson, Harley Sneap, Sam Hayman, Sam Wright©, Ryan Downing, Jack Magorotto, Jordan Ewing, Finn King-Smith, Luke Forward. Subs: Cole Clinton, Riley Malin, Ryan Turner, Daniel Palmer, Kashope Akingbade.
Falmouth Town: Morgan Jones, Max Cook, Malachy Davy, Tom Annear, Harrison Jewell, Olly Evans, Oscar Massey, Jared Sims, Jack Webber, Jack Symons, Liam Prynn. Subs: Olly Walker, Andy Elcock, Bradley Leivers, Paolo Sousa.
Referee: Mark King.