Falmouth Town will be keen to continue their impressive run of form when they visit Clevedon Town in the Western League Premier Division on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).
Andrew Westgarth’s side have won five of their last six games in all competitions and have lost just one of their last ten in the league, with their recent 3-2 defeat at Barnstaple Town their only blemish since the end of September.
The teams met at Bickland Park in the reverse fixture back in mid-August, with Town running out comfortable 4-0 winners to secure their first victory in the Western League since 1983, thanks to goals from Tim Nixon (2), James Swan and Alex Wharton.
Town sit one place and five points above Clevedon, who have a game in hand on the west Cornwall club. A win on Saturday could see Town rise to seventh should Ashton & Backwell United and Helston Athletic both suffer defeat.
Opposition view
Clevedon, who are managed by Alex White, have been in the Western League since 2015 after the Somerset outfit were demoted from the Southern League Division 1 South West, bringing an end to the club’s 22-year stay in the Southern League.
The Seasiders narrowly avoided relegation on their first season back in the Western League but steadily climbed the table in the seasons that followed before finishing seventh last term.
This time around the Somerset club sit tenth – one place and four points below Town – with 25 points to their name from 19 matches, and enjoyed a strong run to the fourth round proper of the FA Vase before being eliminated on penalties by Harefield Town last weekend.
Clevedon have scored 61 goals in all competitions this season, with Freddie King and Ethan Feltham leading the way with 13 strikes apiece.
Westy’s words
“There’s a bit of a mid-table battle going on at the moment. Ashton & Backwell have done really well, they’ve picked up some great results, beating Bridgwater and Helston and a couple of others, and then you’ve got us, Helston and Clevedon also vying for those positions in the top eight.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a six-pointer but we don’t want to be losing ground on the top six. It’s a big game for us and another chance to see how far we’ve come: we beat them 4-0 at home, but how do we travel, because travelling in this league is a challenge. I think their home record is pretty good, they’ve won more than they’ve lost, so it should be a tough old game.
“We want to finish as high as we can. To lay the foundations for next season and to progress we’ll want to finish as strong as we can, and from a challenging start we’ve definitely found our feet. But we want to improve our away record, for starters, and hopefully we can kick on.”
Last five games – Falmouth Town:
Feb 1: Falmouth Town 3-1 Barnstaple Town (Les Phillips Cup)
Jan 28: Falmouth Town 1-0 Ilfracombe Town (League)
Jan 21: Barnstaple Town 3-2 Falmouth Town (League)
Jan 2: Falmouth Town 4-1 Bridgwater United (League)
Dec 26: Saltash United 1-3 Falmouth Town (League)
Last five games – Clevedon Town:
Feb 1: Wellington 1-3 Clevedon Town (Les Phillips Cup)
Jan 28: Clevedon Town 2-2p Harefield United (FA Vase)
Jan 2: Clevedon Town 0-2 Mousehole (League)
Dec 26: Bridgwater United 2-2 Clevedon Town (League)
Dec 7: Clevedon Town 6-0 Radstock Town (Les Phillips Cup)