Falmouth Town will be hoping to continue a promising run of form away from home when they visit Wellington in the Western League on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).
A difficult run of five defeats to five tough opponents made February a month to forget, but four points on the road from their recent two trips to Cadbury Heath and Street have given Andrew Westgarth’s side a much-needed boost.
Town remain in ninth position in the league, but a point on Saturday could see them move above Ashton & Backwell United should they better the Stags’ result against Helston Athletic. A win for 12th-placed Wellington, meanwhile, would put them just three points behind Town with a game in hand.
Opposition view
Wellington, who are managed by Tim Legg, are enjoying their 45th consecutive season in one of the two divisions in the Western League since the Somerset outfit joined Division One in 1978. Their current six-year spell in the Premier Division is their longest so far, with the Tangerines’ highest finish at Step 5 coming in 2008/09 when they finished seventh.
Their current run in the Premier Division has seen them finish no higher than 14th, although the Somerset side are currently sitting 12th this time around with 31 points from 26 games.
Wellington have scored 54 goals in all competitions this season, with Jake Quick leading the way with 16 strikes in 28 games, with Sam Towler next with eight goals from 15 matches.
Westy’s words
“Getting points away from home is always difficult and I’ve heard Wellington is a tough place to go. I think you’ve only got to look at their home record and their recent form, they’re one of the in-form sides in the league so credit to them. We’ve got our own issues at the minute regarding personnel so it’s always going to be a challenge, but the mood has definitely lifted off the back of two positive results.
“Home form is so important and they obviously know how to play the pitch, how to play the surroundings and they’ve got some good players. We played them in the first game of the season and they look to play the right way, they’re a good footballing side and we snuck a draw in the last kick of the game.
“It definitely feels like the end [of the season] is near. It’s mad to think we’ve only got nine games to go, so only six or seven weeks to go. There’s still a lot of football to be played and hopefully we can finish in that top ten, that’s always been the target but there’s a big bunch [of teams] around us now so it’s important that we win these sort of games or get something from it.”
Last five games – Falmouth Town:
Mar 4: Street 1-1 Falmouth Town (League)
Feb 25: Cadbury Heath 0-2 Falmouth Town (League)
Feb 21: Helston Athletic 2-1 Falmouth Town (Les Phillips Cup)
Feb 18: Falmouth Town 0-2 Millbrook (League)
Feb 15: Falmouth Town 0-2 Saltash United (League)
Last five games – Wellington:
Mar 4: Wellington 3-2 Ashton & Backwell United (League)
Feb 28: Ilfracombe Town 0-2 Wellington (League)
Feb 25: Wellington 0-0 Street (League)
Feb 18: Wellington 2-1 Cadbury Heath (League)
Feb 15: Wellington 1-0 Barnstaple Town (League)