IT was not a good day for Falmouth on Saturday in their ECB Cornwall Premier League relegation battle.

They lost at home to one of their rivals, Newquay, by six wickets. Then news came through that the bottom side, Redruth, had narrowed the gap by eight points after they tied their game at St Austell. It might have been a lot worse as well.

Chasing 214, Redruth recovered from 129-6 but, having levelled the scores, they lost their last two wickets in successive balls. It remains to be seen how important those five dropped points will be at the end of the season.

Falmouth have a 21 point cushion with six games to play. The first is a tough assignment at Grampound Road on Saturday, who drew at St Just last weekend. Redruth meanwhile host Truro.

Falmouth were going well after being put in by Newquay. They lost Mark Johnson early for one, bowled by Neill Furlonger. Arup Revandkar made 12 but was LBW to Furlonger at 34.

However, Adrian Noott made 30 in partnership with Antony Angove as the home side got to a promising 84 before losing their third wicket.

A familiar collapse however saw five wickets fall for nine runs after Noott was bowled for 30. Angove was caught and bowled by Martin Pearce, four runs short of his half century, and then four wickets fell for just three runs.

Kieren Rodda was lbw for 13. Martin Pearce removed Josh Searle and Craig Mouatt before Guy Leathley was run out for a single.

It was left to George Popperwell to stage a rally as he got a useful 29. Liam Hoban made ten and last man Glyn Furnival was seven not out as the last two wickets realised 51 useful runs.

Neill Furlonger took four for 50. Martin Pearce also took four wickets and only conceded 25 runs in his 16 overs.

Newquay got to 34 before Joe Crane was LBW to Angove for 25. The win was effectively set up when Usman Arshad and Adam Cocking took the total to 98.

Having reached his 50, Arshad was caught and bowled by Leathley. The visitors then suffered their own collapse with Hoban bowling Pearce for a single. He then trapped Bradley Lynch lbw for two.

When Josh Williams was dismissed by Leathley for a duck, at 110-5, the game was in the balance.

But Cocking, who had come into the game in a rich vein of form, steered his side home as he ended on 65 not out, hitting seven boundaries in an innings of 150 minutes.

Angove, Leathley and Liam Hoban all took two wickets. Revandkar sent down twelve overs for 37 runs. Victory came with twelve overs to spare.