HELSTON Athletic women came agonisingly close to securing the club’s second cup final win of the season after a fiercely contested game against Liskeard women.

Unfortunately, however, it wasn’t to be, and the holders were beaten after Liskeard dug in and mounted a comeback to see them leave the Poltair Park 3-2 winners.

Looking to follow on from the success of the men’s team who lifted the Cornwall Senior Cup on Easter Monday, Helston AFC women took the lead early with an eighth-minute strike from Liz O’Reilly who found herself one-on-one with Liskeard’s keeper after a ball into the opponent’s box.

Then, after 25 minutes, Helston looked to be taking control of the match after Katy Barker-Thomas slotted home for a second.

Just over five minutes later, Liskeard’s hard work paid off when winger Chloe Williams muscled her way past the Helston defence and halved the deficit to make it 1-2.

Their confidence growing, Liskeard began to take back control of the game and 12 minutes after netting their first, a low ball into the box found its way to the feet of Gabi Alphous who tapped it in to level the scores at 2-2.

Liskeard came out fighting after the break and, after a poor clearance from Helston’s goalkeeper fell to Liskeard midfielder, Charlie Pettinger, whose shot cleared the defence and found the back of the net to put Liskeard ahead.

After the third goal, Liskeard continued to control the game up until the final minutes when Helston found themselves through on goal. Unfortunately, however, Liskeard’s defence snuffed the attack out and the game ended 3-2.

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Helston Athletic women’s manager Paul Parfitt told The Packet: “First and foremost, the headline for us is one of pride. I was extremely impressed with our effort and commitment and with the girls’ attitude and approach and maintaining their dignity in what was a very hostile environment.

“The opposition were tried to unsettle us physically and verbally.

“I was obviously disappointed; it was a trophy we won last season where we beat Saltash 4-0 and convincingly beat Liskeard in the semi-final on the way to doing that.

“So you’d want to, in the first instance, retain your trophy and a 3-2 defeat in the final is as close to retaining it as you could get really without actually doing that.

“It was kind of bittersweet, I was obviously very disappointed, but the attitude on the pitch and in the aftermath of the team really encouraged me. By ten o’clock that night he entire focus of the squad was on pre-season and preparing for next season and to win the cup again.

“We’ve been together three seasons, and last Sunday was the third consecutive season of a trophy confirmed, and the treble was on, so we were confident.

“We’ve won every game this season and we won the league with three games to spare, so it gives us confidence as, up until Sunday, we’ve won every game against Cornish opposition we played this season.”

This coming Sunday, Helston Athletic Women will play RNAS Culdrose Ladies in the League Cup semi-final at Kellaway Park, with a win taking them through to the final and the potential for an unprecedented league and cup double.

Paul continued: “You set out at the beginning of the season to win the league you’re in, because it’s the league table that never lies. You always put great Kudos on winning the league you’re in, so to have achieved that with several games to go, I was delighted.