TAVISTOCK 2-3 FALMOUTH TOWN

TAVISTOCK 2-3 FALMOUTH TOWN

Falmouth Town built on their impressive Boxing Day victory over local rivals Mousehole with another victory 2 days later against fellow strugglers Tavistock, recording their first back to back wins in the Southern League since beating Exmouth Town & Shaftesbury in October.

Falmouth made just one change from the Boxing Day game, with Jared Sims replacing Jack Webber in the midfield.

In front of a large travelling support, and on a heavy pitch, Falmouth played probably their best half of football this season as they dominated play and created numerous chances, with the young Tavistock side struggling to get near them.

On 10 minutes, following a good move down left side, Falmouth opened the scoring. The ball was fed to Ollie Walker who out-paced the Tavistock full-back, got to the by-line and cut the ball back to Bradley Leivers. Leivers then crossed to Luke Barner who tapped in from between the posts.

Four minutes later and Town’s domination yielded a second goal. Luke Barner, who turned in a typically high-energy performance, was found wide on the left.  His cross took a slight deflection on to the head of Rubin Wilson at the far post, who gratefully nodded it in past Dearing in the Tavistock goal.

In a rare foray forward, Tavistock threatened the Falmouth goal at the 22 minute mark when Luke Steer saw his powerful shot hit the post after a good passing move. However, normal service was soon resumed as Town drove forward four minutes later, Walker crossing again and this time finding Wilson between the posts, but he could only guide it over the bar.

The last 15 minutes of the half saw Tavistock getting more into the game, without creating any further chances, but they were hit by the third Falmouth goal just 2 minutes before the interval. Tavistock lost possession under pressure from Luke Barner in their own half, the ball broke to Rubin Wilson who then played in Ollie Walker. Walker drove towards the Tavistock goal before guiding his shot past Dearing to make it 3-0 going into the half-time break.

With a commanding lead it was important for Falmouth not to concede any early goals, but that is exactly what happened in the 3^rd minute of the half when Tavistock’s Luke Steer received the ball on the edge of the Falmouth penalty box and guided a well-placed shot past Morgan Coxhead.

Tavistock then started to get the better of the play and Falmouth were not able to dictate as they had done in the first half. Tavistock made a number of changes and the fresh legs had an effect. Falmouth were able to bring on the experienced Luke Brabyn, but the remainder of the bench were fairly inexperienced at this level, so manager Andy Westgarth’s choices were limited.

Falmouth survived for 38 minutes until Jacob Shore pounced on a loose ball in the box following a Tavistock free kick to make it 3-2, and the previously unlikely home come-back looked a distinct possibility.

The main feature of the latter stages of the half was the inconsistency of some of the refereeing decisions. After a good first hour, the official started to miss clear fouls and then blow up for other inconspicuous challenges, to the frustration of both sets of players. It all lead to an entertaining last few minutes as Tavistock pushed for the equaliser and Falmouth’s bench, players and large travelling support became ever more worried. Much to their relief, Falmouth were able to see the game out to record an important victory in their quest to survive their first Southern League Season and they now find themselves 3 points clear of the relegation zone, despite their being some positive results on the day for the teams around them in the league.

Falmouth now move on to a New Year’s Day trip to Willand Rovers in Devon, who recorded a convincing 4-0 defeat of Helston Athletic whilst Falmouth were beating Tavistock. Another three points would make for a very successful festive period for Falmouth Town and they will be calling on the services of their committed fan base to again turn up in numbers to support the cause on Wednesday.

Att: 280

Falmouth Town: Morgan Coxhead, Bradley Leivers, Tom Annear©, Harrison Jewell, Fred Walter, Luke Barner, Andreas Calleja-Stayne, Jared Sims, Cam Hutchison, Ollie Walker, Rubin Wilson. Subs: Jack Webber, Ned Symons, Evan Tresidder, Luke Brabyn, Andy Elcock.

Tavistock: A Dearing, E Wright, J Jackson, A Cavendish, T Burns, E Harrison ©, L Prynn, J Bowker, L Steer, R Kane, A Cunningham. Subs: H Dwelly, H French, H Donavan, J Shore, B Wilkins.

Man of the Match: Luke Barner (Falmouth Town)