Falmouth ladies second team took on Caradon’s third team on a chilly January evening (4.30pm start) in Liskeard.

With Falmouth perched near the top of the table and Caradon at the opposite end, most pundits were predicting a one-sided encounter.

Falmouth took the game under their control from the start, dominating the early exchanges but failing to turn possession into goals from a series of attacking positions. The Caradon defence held firm until the twelfth minute, when a rebound fell to the Falmouth captain, Amy Walker, who reverse swept the ball home to make it 1-0. Six minutes later it was 2-0 when Amy Tatlow picked up the ball on the edge of the area and drove into the ‘D’ before finishing neatly in the bottom corner.

The Falmouth attack began to look comfortable in their play, with some excellent interchanges between Jeanne Naylor at centre forward and Holly Bunt on the left wing. After another penalty corner for Falmouth, a strike by Sam Dunstan hit a defensive foot on the line and a penalty stroke was awarded. This was dispatched by Amy Tatlow for her second and Falmouth’s third goal. After the half time oranges, Falmouth resumed where they had left off, but were met by dogged resistance from the Caradon back line. Despite creating a number of chances, the Falmouth attack was repeatedly thwarted by the Caradon goalkeeper, who bravely formed a solid barrier to everything hit in her direction.

Finally the resistance was broken when a loose ball was slapped goalwards by Amy Walker to make it 4-0. Defensive clearances from Caradon were well intercepted by Emma Lamble in an attacking midfield role, who combined well with the Falmouth front three to create more opportunities.

One of these chances was neatly taken by Jeanne Naylor, who picked up the ball at the edge of the area, beat two defenders and slotted the ball between the keeper’s legs from close range for the final goal. Falmouth ladies created enough chances to score more, but the result was kept at 5-0 by some determined defending from Caradon.

Team:-June Moore, Amanda Wills, Heather Beal, Sarah Murray, Fran Burton, Lucy Taylor, Sam Dunstan, Amy Walker, Emma Lamble, Holly Bunt, Jeanne Naylor, Amy Tatlow