ELBURTON VILLA 5

FALMOUTH TOWN 1

Falmouth's very own 'annus horribilis' continued away at Elburton Villa on Saturday, as another under-strength Town side were thumped 5-1.

Not for the first time this season Town managers Les Gilbert and Robbie Stephens were forced to cobble together a makeshift side after player absences and injuries hit their already threadbare squad hard.

Town were without regular midfielders Ross Pope, Tom Whipp and Dan Richardson, as well as Richard Kellow, whose future at the club is in doubt after his recent appeareances for Falmouth Cricket Club over the last two weekends.

"We had no regular midfielders at all on Saturday," said joint manager Robbie Stephens, who admitted that he and Les Gilbert were looking forward to using the summer break to make changes to the club's playing squad.

"Dan Richardson was unavailable, Tom Whipp's injured, Ross Pope's injured and we had Richard Kellow playing cricket which was disappointing. So we were thin on the ground again. We got away with one really, because to be honest they should have annihilated us, but I wasn’t impressed with them at all. As it was we were unlucky to go in 1-0 down at half time."

Villa took the lead in the 41st minute thanks to Sam Stevens’ tap-in from close range.
Falmouth keeper Jason Chapman parried Levi Landricombe's shot into his path, leaving Stevens with the simplest of finishes.

But despite enjoying more of the ball, Villa seldom tested Chapman in the Falmouth goal, with Town’s makeshift defence dealing admirably with the home side’s potent strike force.

However, the visitors’ resistance finally crumbled not long after the restart.

Two quick-fire goals in the first ten minutes of the second half put the game to bed.

The first came in the 48th minute when top scorer Landricombe rifled in a low shot from the edge of the box, followed seven minutes later by his second of the game when he reacted quickest to his own rebound to score.

Town kept the score respectable right up until the last ten minutes when Landricombe completed his hat trick with a sweetly struck volley.

Rob Wearne scored Town's only goal soon after, nodding in at the back post from Tom Dunstan's corner to make it 4-2 and keep up his impressive goal scoring run. Callum Martindale completed the scoring for Villa just before the final whistle.

"At the moment Rob always looks likely to score," said Stephens, reflecting on Wearne's performance. 

"In the last two or three games he's been absolutely superb, and Glenn Squires' work rate is better than I've ever seen him. I think the two of them play well together.

"We've got a lot of young players who will get better; they'll come back after the break even stronger. There's no escaping the fact that we need a few players in because we've got no strength in depth. If we've got three or four out then we're struggling.

"But there are people who think we're going to be the Penzance of the league next season, and there's no way we're going to be that. We've already spoken to a few people and there are plenty who are interested in coming. There's still nowhere better to play than Bickland Park, and I think we'll surprise a few people."