Mousehole 3 - Falmouth Town 1

It was the home team, Mousehole, who emerged victorious from this FA Trophy Second Qualifying Round tie against Falmouth Town on Saturday, writes Scott McCormack.

But it could have been so much different had one or two of the chances created by Falmouth in the second half been converted.

Falmouth started Max Everall at right-back with Tom Fisher recovering from a fractured ankle sustained in last weekend’s game. Luke Brabyn was unavailable but they welcomed back Marcello Jones who was named as one of the substitutes.

The game started evenly but it was Falmouth Town who struck the first blow. Shooting into the goal at the car park end, a free kick from Andy Elcock found Bradley Leivers on the far post, who headed it back across goal to an unrushing Cam Hutchison, and he side-footed the ball past Ollie Chenoweth in the Mousehole goal.

The F-Troop, who had taken over the Solomon Browne stand for the half, celebrated wildly but Falmouth were not able to consolidate their lead for long.

Three minutes later, good work in the midfield from Ross Derham resulted in a ball being played out to the left finding the dangerous Torin Ntege. He ran at Everall and squared the ball to ex-Town favourite Tim Nixon, who converted to draw the scores level.

Mousehole then started to have the majority of the possession, with their excellent central midfield three of Derham, Tallan Mitchell and Julio Fresneda showing off their skills in tight areas whilst under great pressure from their Falmouth counterparts, and moving the ball swiftly and effectively to beat the Falmouth press.

Conversely, Falmouth looked dangerous when they got the ball out early to Oscar Massey, who was playing down the left and taking on young Mousehole full-back Jacob Kevern at every opportunity.

Falmouth would have been content to have kept the scores level at the break, but with one minute of normal time to go, Ntege cut in from the left and was brought down. The referee gave a free-kick outside of the box but the linesman waved his flag, and after some consultation, the foul was deemed to have been committed inside the area and a penalty was awarded.

Mousehole left-back Jordan Hacket stepped forward and made no mistake to give Mousehole a 2-1 lead at half-time.

Mousehole made a change at half-time, moving Mitchell to right-back and replacing Kevern with Jack Symons, who assumed Mitchell’s role in a more central position. This seemed to nullify the threat of Massey, as Mousehole started to pile the pressure on Falmouth again.

Four minutes into the half, Mousehole forced a corner and found Mitchell unmarked at the far post. He headed it back across goal to Nixon who unleashed a shot that Town keeper Morgan Coxhead could only parry into his own goal.

The game continued in the same vein as the first half, with Mousehole looking good whilst in possession but defensively not looking so sound.

Firstly, Luke Barner had a good chance from a cross but he side-footed it wide from in front of goal. Then the ball was pulled back to Rubin Wilson on the edge of the area but his shot could only graze the top of the cross-bar.

Leivers then had a headed chance and finally Chenoweth saved well with his feet from Wilson, having dived the other way.

Conversion of any one of these chances may have turned the game around but it just wasn’t to be for Falmouth, despite some excellent performances from Leivers, Captain Tom Annear, Harrison Jewell and substitute Jack Webber, who dealt well with Ntege when brought on early in the second half. Andreas Calleja-Stayne also turned in a typical tireless and combative display against the skilful Mousehole midfield three.

Mousehole now look forward to the next round, whilst Falmouth will need to recover ready for a trip on Saturday to Bristol Manor Farm as they resume their campaign in the Southern League South Division One. In the end they turned in an encouraging performance against a Mousehole side, who will surely be in the mix for promotion again this season.

Mousehole: Ollie Chenoweth, Jordan Hackett, Jack Calver, Medo Konte, Ross Derham, Mark Goldsworthy, Tallan Mitchell, Jacob Kevern, Torin Ntege, Tim Nixon, Julio Fresneda. Sub: Lewis Moyle, Jack Symons, Jamie Devine, Aaron Ibbetson, Ollie Challiner.

Falmouth Town: Morgan Coxhead, Max Everall, Tom Annear, Harrison Jewell, Bradley Leivers, Andy Elcock, Andreas Calleja-Stayne, Cam Hutchison, Luke Barner, Rubin Wilson, Oscar Massey. Subs: Andy Westgarth, Jack Webber, Kian Thomas, Marcello Jones.