Helston Athletic win Dave Gardner Memorial Tournament
7:10pm Saturday 4th August 2012 in Sport
Helston Athletic players congratulate Liam Eddy on getting the third goal against Falmouth Town Reserves
Falmouth Town RESERVES 0 HELSTON ATHLETIC 3
Helston Athletic have won the Dave Gardner Memorial Tournament for the first time after a 3-0 win over Falmouth Town Reserves at Bickland Park today (Saturday).
Liam Eddy, Mark Goldsworthy and Jamie Thomson got the goals.
Helston went into the match knowing a draw or better would be enough to see them collect the trophy.
The Dave Gardner Memorial Trophy is contested every pre-season between Penzance, Falmouth, Helston and Porthleven in memory of Dave who died of cancer in his mid-thirties having played for all four clubs.
In a fiiting tribute Helston manager Sid Taylor named Nigel Thwaites as captain for the day. Thwaites was a good friend of Dave Gardner having played football with him on many occasions.
Falmouth Town still had a chance of retaining the trophy for the fourth year in a row going into the match and started well.
But it was the link-up play of Eddy and Goldsworthy that caused problems, for Falmouth's defence, throughout. The two combined to open the scoring on nine minute as Eddy fed a ball into Goldsworthy, who placed a shot past Falmouth keeper Bryan Scoffin from eight yards out.
Ben Ambrose and Nathan McIntosh looked Falmouth's best threat going forward, but Jason Robertson in the opposition's goal wasn't severly tested during the first half. At the other end Scoffin had to be alert again to tip a goalbound effort from Thwaites over his crossbar.
Another bustling run into the box from Eddy brought the second goal on 38 minutes. A Falmouth defender got in an excellent slide tackle to deny the Helston striker, but the ball fell kindly for Jamie Thomson and the Helston midfielder curled a ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
The second half saw Falmouth go close to pulling a goal back when Mike Newbury's header was tipped over the crossbar and Jason Roberts put a close range effort into the side netting.
However, it was Helston who made sure of the victory midway through the half when a long ball over the top saw Eddy racing clear of the defence to slide a shot past Scoffin to make it 3-0.
