Bristol Manor Farm 2; Falmouth Town 2
Joe Beardwell 13’(Pen), 67’(Pen) Jack Webber 28’
Luke Barner 45’+3’
Att: 281


Falmouth Town earned an important away point in this league fixture away to Bristol Manor Farm at The Creek after having conceded first, before fighting back to lead 2-1 at the break. In a keenly contested 2nd half, their hosts equalised but could not get the winning goal, and ultimately, the 2-2 result was a fair reflection of the game.

Once again, Falmouth were unable to name an unchanged line-up with Andy Elcock and Bradley Leivers not travelling. However, there was a welcome return for long-serving wide man Olly Walker, who travelled down from his work in London, and Falmouth were able to name Ollie Band as a substitute after impressing in the Peninsula League team, since having been signed by Jonny Perrow during the close season. Band being the nephew of former Falmouth Town flier Dale Band.

It was a high tempo start as both sides had good periods of play, but it was the home side that opened the scoring after 13 minutes. Impressive centre-forward Joe Beardwell got away from the Falmouth defence and Harrison Jewell was deemed to have impeded him as he entered the penalty area. Beardwell went down and a penalty was awarded by referee Carl Peters. Beardwell got up and smashed the ball into the top corner of Falmouth Keeper Morgan Jones’ goal giving him no chance.

Falmouth are proving to be adept at raising their game when they need to score and only had to wait a further 15 minutes before claiming a deserved equaliser. Jack Symons, who put in a high energy performance and drew numerous fouls throughout the game, showed good close control in the box, and pulled the ball back from the by-line, eventually finding Jack Webber on the edge of the 6-yard box who side-footed his effort past home keeper Owen Crawford and into the net.

Falmouth then edged the remainder of the half, and just as the game looked to be heading for a 1-1 score-line at half-time, Falmouth forced a corner down the right. Two minutes into stoppage time, the corner kick reached Symons, and his shot was deflected into the path of Luke Barner at the far post who converted from one yard out.

The task for Falmouth now was to buck the recent trend of conceding early in the second half, and they clearly came out determined to stop that happening. They were successful but it was at the expense of keeping the ball, as both sides were guilty of carelessness in possession. Amidst the frantic play, Bristol Manor Farm started to get on top and Falmouth had Morgan Jones to thank for maintaining their lead as he made a point blank save in the 16th minute of the half. Three minutes later he was called upon again, keeping out another goal-bound attempt.

Falmouth were dropping deeper and deeper, allowing more space for the influential Callum Hewlitt in his central role in the midfield, and in the 22nd minute, they conceded another penalty trying to defend that lead. This time the referee adjudged that a home player was having his shirt pulled just inside the area, although no-one seemed to appeal, and Beardwell repeated his first half kick with another unstoppable effort against the unfortunate Jones.

Again, Falmouth were able to raise their game after conceding, admittedly without creating any clear chances, until they won a free-kick 5 yards out from the 18-yard box on 42 minutes. With Tuesday night’s heroics fresh in the Falmouth faithful’s mind, Luke Barner stepped up but saw his shot narrowly clear the crossbar and Falmouth had to settle for a well-earned away draw.

Other results on the day meant that Falmouth occupy ninth place in the early league table and on Saturday they have a must-win game against struggling league newcomers Slimbridge with a 3.00pm kick off at Bickland Park. Three points would cement their place in the upper reaches of the table, so hopefully a big crowd will be in attendance to act as the 12th man and cheer them on to victory.

Bristol Manor Farm: Own Crawford, Sam Watkins, Charlie White, Nathan Goodwin-Warrell, Aaron Parsons©, Cory Evans, Bailey Croome, Joe Beardwell, Callum Hewlett, Ryan Cainey, Aysa Corrick. Subs: Kevin Contraras, Eli Collins.

Falmouth Town: Morgan Jones, Max Cook, Tom Annear, Jared Sims(c), Luke Barner, Liam Prynn, Oscar Massey, Jack Symons, Harrison Jewell, Malachi Davy, Jack Webber . Subs: Ollie Evans, Ned Symons, Aaron Ibbotson, Ollie Walker, Ollie Band.

Ref: Carl Peters.