Falmouth Town 1, Witheridge 3

AFTER a sequence of home matches in which Falmouth conquered all before them, they tasted defeat at Bickland Park for the first time in almost three months in the Premier Division of the SWPL on Saturday.

Despite last being beaten at home by Bodmin Town on October 27, Andrew Westgarth's men have now failed to beat Witheridge for almost three and a half years and rarely looked like ending that poor sequence.

Their first half display was as miserable as the conditions - a damp squib which saw them concede twice and fail to muster a meaningful effort on the Devon side’s goal.

To Witheridge’s credit, they popped the ball around with assurance on a skiddy, slippery surface and with an extra man in midfield in the early exchanges, they took control.

After only six minutes the ball broke loose to Jordan Charran 40 yards from goal and he rolled the ball out to

the left hand edge of the penalty area to his skipper Kyle Bassett, who set himself and curled a delightful shot past

the outstretched hand of Ryan Barnes into the left hand corner.

Sensing an overloaded midfield from the visitors, Town centre half Tom Whipp started to step into midfield for the home side. Some of his long balls were reminiscent of David Beckham, others containing mystery more akin to David Blaine.

One arrow-like pass – all of 60 yards – was brilliantly brought down by Rob Wearne, who took a touch and rounded his marker but just as he prepared to shoot, a covering defender managed to toe-poke the ball out for a corner.

It was indicative of the entire afternoon for the hosts – close, but no cigar.

Witheridge doubled their advantage when Mike Vanes, who had looked one of the more purposeful Town players in the first half, slipped over whilst in possession, enabling substitute Luke Cole to break down the right unchallenged.

His cross was met by Danny Tapp, who steered the ball past Barnes from eight yards out to give the visitors

an advantage that they thoroughly deserved.

Player-manager Andrew Westgarth would have no doubt articulated his feelings at half time and his

input was immediately evident, as Falmouth strained to get back into the game.

There was more urgency, more energy and more goalmouth action, as Witheridge were put on the

back foot.

Glen Squires and Wearne both converged on a ball headed back across goal by Dan Greet, but somehow a defender produced a last-ditch clearance.

Squires then burst away down the inside left channel, latching on to a Harry Clarke pass but lofting his attempted lob wide of the left hand post.

Vanes, who had been struggling with a thigh problem since the first half, was replaced by Dan Richardson on the hour mark, with Luke Tripconey following him on shortly afterwards.

But after withstanding the first 15 minutes of the second period, Witheridge began to pass the ball again and started to look more threatening.

Cole was particularly impressive, with neat feet and a high price on possession, he constantly picked and probed at the Falmouth defence.

Having dispossessed Whipp and jinked past another Town defender, he curled a fine shot towards the left hand corner, causing Barnes to scramble across his line and turn it around the post.

With ten minutes left, the visitors sealed all three points with a thunderbolt from Mike Humphreys, who lashed the ball high into the net from 20 yards after Town had only half cleared a corner.

There was still time for Ed Timmons to celebrate his call-up to the Cornwall squad with an expertly taken free kick, bending it into the right hand corner from the edge of the area to give Town a late consolation goal.

Falmouth: R Barnes, C Wormington (L Tripconey 60), J Cooper (capt), T Whipp, E Timmons, D Greet,

M Vanes (D Richardson 55), R Pope, H Clarke, G Squires, R Wearne (A Westgarth 72). Sub not used: O Walker.

Witheridge: J Moore, S Avery, J Tucker M Humphreys C Ibbeson D Tapp W Pinnick A Gray (M Leach 85m) H Taylor (L Cole 35m), J Charron (J Dirrane 36m) Kyle Bassett (capt)