Falmouth Town 2, Torpoint Athletic 0

ROSS Pope bowed out from Bickland Park in style on Saturday, as his Falmouth Town side beat Torpoint Athletic 2-0 on his final home appearance in the SWPL Premier, writes Matt Friday.

Rob Wearne scored two goals in four second half minutes to settle a fairly even match as Falmouth moved on to 52 points, two more than last season’s total.

The first opportunity came via a poor defensive header by Torpoint’s Ryan Swain which almost allowed Andrew Westgarth to score, but he made amends and cleared the danger.

The first shot on goal took 21 minutes to arrive, when visiting right-back Jon McCreery’s dipping effort was palmed away by Ryan Barnes.

Torpoint just about edged the opening 45 minutes, with Barnes required to make another good stop just before the break, this time from Gary Hird’s strike, to keep the scores level.

However the visitors won a penalty moments later when striker Liam Parnell fell in the box. Lee Bevan stepped up for Torpoint, but saw his kick brilliantly saved by Barnes.

The first goal eventually came 18 minutes from time when Rob Wearne headed Ed Timmons’ volleyed cross into the bottom corner for his 27th goal of the season.

It took just four minutes for number 28 to come, with Wearne this time controlling the ball with his chest before volleying it into the corner to double Falmouth’s lead.

There was a lovely moment in the 87th minute when Pope was replaced by Adam Williams to warm applause as he left the Bickland Park pitch for the final time.

Falmouth missed the chance to add a third shortly after when Tom Annear missed an open goal from six yards, but it mattered little on an emotional afternoon.

Falmouth: R Barnes, E Timmons, T Annear, T Whipp, J Cooper, R Pope (A Williams 87), D Richardson, J Stocker, R Wearne, A Westgarth (G Squires 74), H Clarke (M Jones half-time)

Packet Pick: Ryan Barnes – made a number of good saves including the excellent penalty stop.

Falmouth’s next match is away at Newquay tomorrow night. They then travel to title-chasing Saltash on Saturday.