Town pay for dismal show

IT was a case of "after the Lord Mayor's show" on Saturday as Falmouth Town, after two good performances and wins, came crashing down to earth with a poor overall performance at St Blazey. It was a game that they just didn't seem to want and there didn't appear to be any fight.

The home side, following Boxing Day's embarrassing 1-3 defeat at home to local rivals St Austell, were determined to put that behind them and after laying into Town from the start, took the lead after six minutes. Justin Harrington hit a shot from just outside the area which took a big deflection off Peter Davey and ended up in the corner of Joe Tickle's net.

Not content to sit back on their one goal advantage the home side laid siege to the Town goal and captain Mark Vercesi saw his low shot comfortably saved by Tickle.

Within minutes, Body ran onto a pass from Steve Ovens and in a goalscoring opportunity, he rolled the ball across the face of goal.

Town had rare glimpses at goal but Penhaligon wasn't tested.

After pinning the home side into their own half for a spell, a good flowing move forward saw St Blazey double their advantage after half an hour. Vercesi started the move with a pass to Body. After beating a defender, he returned the pass to Vercesi who sprayed the ball to Ovens on the right and he drilled in a low, angled shot.

Things got worse for Falmouth when they found themselves three down after 36 minutes. A pin point, perfect cross from Wayne Riley found Ovens whose looping header ended up in the corner of the net.

Town's day got worse when they lost Dave McGhee in the 40th minute when a hamstring injury forced him to be replaced by Darren Burchell. Chris Davey was cautioned for dissent moments later.

In the 42nd minute, Vercesi was also booked for a foul on the edge of his box and from the free kick Burchell's shot was well saved by Penhaligon at the expense of a corner.

Pressure from Town paid off in first half stoppage time when they pulled a goal back. A good cross from the right wasn't properly cleared and Mike Roberts turned Lewis Reed before firing low into the corner.

Into the second half and Town had Nevin booked four minutes in for a foul and in the 56th minute, Blazey had Reed booked for a foul and two minutes later Campbell suffered the same fate.

A cross from Blatchford eluded everyone and flew across goal and into the side netting following Bowker's last minute touch.

In the 62nd minute, St Blazey restored their three goal advantage. A Harrington free kick on the edge of the box was fumbled by Tickle, allowing Isbell to tap home from a yard out with Body on hand as well.

Lee Blatchford was withdrawn before the restart and Dean Tongue replaced him.

A few minutes later St Blazey brought on Adrian Street for Harrington and minutes after this Dominic Richardson for Vercesi.

Farnham replaced the ineffective Nevin with 17 minutes remaining.

Despite having the lion's share of possession in the second half, Falmouth failed to test Penhaligon. The home side with many attack-minded players had several chances on their bursts forward. One of them was a shot that rolled across the face of goal.

Substitute Richardson was booked for a foul on Brown in the 77th minute.

In the final minute, Sweet was brought on in place of Campbell.

Flattering result? Maybe, but a few more attacking options and Town could have scored a crucial goal in the early part of the second half which would have made for an exciting 45 minutes. Hopefully 2007 will start in a different way that 2006 ended!

On Saturday Town entertain St Blazey in the return clash and will be hoping for a much better performance. Kick off is 2.30 pm. Town: J. Tickle; W. Brown, F. Nevin (C. Farnham), C. Davey, P. Davey, L. Beer, R. Trudgian, D. McGhee (D. Burchell), M. Roberts, A. Bowker, L. Blatchford (D. Tongue).

Subs unused: S. Burt and W. Hewitt.