Helston Athletic put seven past struggling Mousehole
8:00am Thursday 18th October 2012 in Sport By Ben Power, Sports Reporter
Players challenge for the ball during Helston's 7-0 drubbing of Mousehole FC on Saturday
Helston Atheltic kept up the pressure on league leaders Godolphin Atlantic on Saturday after demolishing struggling Mousehole by seven goals to nil at Kellaway Park.
And though the Seagulls were not expected to offer much in the way of resistance, the manner in which the Blues went about dismantling the visitors will surely please manager Sid Taylor: his side were as ruthless in front of goal as Mousehole were wretched in defence.
Helston made a bright start, dominating possession in the opening few minutes as they probed a disorganised Mousehole back line with a series of crosses into the box.
And Mousehole were quick to capitulate when, with barely ten minutes on the clock, Helston went a goal up after Mark Goldsworthy finished off a well-worked move.
It came courtesy of some slick build up play which saw striker Liam Eddy and Helston captain Jamie Thomson exchange a couple of neat passes on the edge of the box, before a decisive through ball from Thomson put Goldsworthy in on goal.
The willowy number ten made no mistake in registering his eleventh of the season from eight yards out.
Conceding an early goal seemed to knock the wind out of Mousehole, whose poor form thus far has seen them win only one of their opening nine games. Their passing became ragged, their formation dissolved from a shaky 4-4-2 into something unrecognisable.
Ominously for Mousehole, Helston's Dan Stidwell, playing down the right as one part of a three-pronged Helston attack, started enjoying himself.
Time and time again the blues wide man shrugged off the attentions of his marker to deliver telling balls into the box.
It was from one such cross that the home side registered their second.
A lofted ball out wide found Stidwell in acres of space. The winger raced to the byline before cutting inside a back-peddaling defender to dink a delicate cross into the six yard box for Eddy, who showed poise and composure to control the ball on his chest before rifling in an unstoppable half-volley on the turn.
On 24 minutes Helston notched up their third goal of the afternoon and effectively put the game out of sight.
Once again Stidwell was involved in helping carve open the Mousehole defence, delivering a high ball into the box which Goldsworthy laid off for Thomson who steered a deft volley into the top corner.
Three nil and cruising, the hundred or so spectators might have forgiven Sid Tayolr’s side for dropping down a couple of gears, but Helston were in no mood to coast. This was a statement of intent directed in no uncertain terms at Wadebridge and Godolphin.
Tom Russell made it four after latching on to a perfectly weighted through-ball from Eddy before bursting into the box and driving a low shot into the far corner that beat the keeper for pace.
Then Eddy registered his second of the afternoon and eleventh of the season after some elegant, one-touch football wide on the right resulted in a one on one with the keeper. No contest. Helston five up.
The second half started better for the visitors, with Dan Stidwell temporarily subdued thanks to some close marking. For a time some of the potency seemed to ebb out of Helston's attack.
But the reprieve was temporary for the Seagulls.
In the 66th minute Heslton thought they had made it six when Goldsworthy bundled the ball home from close range following Eddy's cut back, only for referee Neil Rudkin to adjudge the ball to have gone out of play.
It was to be Eddy's last kick of the game, as the striker made way for substitute Fraser Cumming.
And after barely five minutes on the pitch Cumming bagged Helston's sixth.
Stidwell's dummy bamboozled his marker wide on the right, allowing him time and space to cut the ball back for Cumming who blasted in from ten yards out.
There was time for midfielder Charlie Young to chip in with the goal his performance deserved, slotting home from the edge of the box after more tidy passing from the Blues, but by then the game had taken on the air of a training exercise for Helston.
Afterwards Helston manager Sid Taylor expressed his delight at the way his side had gone about business.
"I thought we played really well," Taylor said. "We got an early goal and their heads seemed to go down, but I thought as a team our performance was really pleasing."
And he was similarly effusive in his praise for strike trio Stidwell, Goldsworthy and Eddy.
"I thought Dan had a good game.
“They score a lot, the front two, but for the first time this season I thought their link-up play was just as good. I've been saying for a while that we need to play at a higher tempo, and I thought we did that.”
Helston host St Austell this weekend in the second round of this year's Throgmorton Cup.
HELSTON: J. Robertson, D. Stidwell, C. Strike, J. Thomson (c), H. Howlett, A. Collick, J. Adlard, C. Young, L. Eddy, M. Goldsworthy, T. Russell
SUBS: B. Stidwell, J. Miller, F. Cumming, S. Parker.
