A CAREER milestone was achieved by Helston Athletic striker Mark Goldsworthy on Saturday as he scored his 250th goal for the club.

The 23-year-old marksman notched up the landmark during the second half of their Walter C Parson Cup third round tie away at the University of Exeter.

It would prove to be a bright spot on what was a bad day for the Blues though as their hosts sent them crashing out of the competition, winning 5-1.

Goldsworthy moment to hit the landmark came from a late penalty, when Athletic were 4-0 down, and the striker said he was ecstatic, although it took time to sink in.

He said: “It was a bit weird because it didn’t feel like it should as we’d just been hammered, but not long after the game I started to cheer up and I’m absolutely delighted to have reached a mark no-one else has at the club.

“I wasn’t aware I was on 249 until earlier in the week when one of the club stattos gave me a link to all the records from my time in the Combination League and I added it up and discovered the total.

“When I stepped up to take the penalty, I was just hoping I didn’t miss it after how the game had gone, but I managed to send the keeper the wrong way.

“It was disappointing to lose like that on Saturday, but our problem this season has been inconsistency and it was a couple of mistakes which cost us.

“But with Mousehole in the league next, I don’t think we’ll need much motivation to get back to winning ways.”

At one stage it did not seem the score would be a big as it got with the Students only being 1-0 up at half time.

Their lead came after Tom Male leapt on a defensive error to break the deadlock after 12 minutes.

Nothing change in terms of the scoreline until the 69th minute when Toby Yeates headed home before Ben Mogg added a third with 120 seconds of the restart.

Josh Higgins was then judged to have tripped in the area in the 81st minute by Hugh Howlett, giving him the chance to successfully convert a penalty.

Goldsworthy then got his opportunity to bag his 250th strike for Helston moments later when the visitors were awarded a penalty of their own, which he duly scored.

Before the final whistle was blown, Exeter saw their four goal advantage re-established in stoppage time via Pete Beadle’s left footed shot.

Athletic's manager Sid Taylor said he did not think there was much between the two sides, but admitted Exeter were better at taking their chances.

"To be honest, mistakes by us gave them three goals," he said.

"They scored at the right times and we pushed up towards the end to see if we could grab a goal but it didn't work out.

"It is disappointing to be out of the cup, but it does give us more time to focus on the league which is our main priority."

HELSTON: Wignall, Santos, Howlett, K Davies, Shainberg (Westgarth, 73), M Davies (Thirkle, 70), Russell, Thomson (c, Adlard, 65), D Stidwell, Goldsworthy, Robertson.