Falmouth Town 2, Saltash Utd 4

This was a joyously old school game of football.

There were bags of goals, full-blooded challenges and the sort of wind and rain with which only seabirds would be comfortable.

After a goalless first half, Falmouth had one foot in the Senior Cup final when they established a 2-0 lead with half an hour to go.

Saltash then demonstrated why they are pushing for the SWPL Premier title this year, scoring three goals in six minutes to deliver a hammer blow from which Town simply couldn’t recover.

Rob Wearne had an early chance to put Falmouth in front but shot straight at the onrushing Ryan Rickard, before Dan Richardson’s byline cross took a deflection and bounced off the top of the crossbar.

Honours even at the interval but Andy Westgarth’s men produced a devastating counter attack goal after 55 minutes.

From a Saltash corner, Tom Annear fed James Ward who crossed the halfway line and sent Jordan Annear away in the inside left channel.

Spotting keeper Ryan Rickard off his line, Annear hit his lofted shot early and the Saltash number 1 made a total hash of it, fumbling it over the line.

Rob Wearne’s thunderous strike then put Falmouth in command just before the hour, but Saltash were stung into action.

Sam Hughes went over in the penalty area and Ryan Richards converted the resulting spot kick, before a spectacular 20-yard volley from Henry Wilson produced an emphatic equaliser.

Just a minute later, Richards found space to fire in a third, which went in via Ed Timmons.

The game was up for Falmouth ten minutes from time when hesitation at the heart of the defence enabled Richards to nip in, round a stranded Barnes and slot into the empty net for his hat-trick.

Falmouth: R Barnes, E Timmons, T Whipp, J Cooper, J Ward, D Richardson, R Pope, T Annear, O Walker, J Annear, R Wearne. Subs: M Jones, H Clarke, M Everard, A Williams, A Westgarth.

Saltash: R Rickard, D Barker, C Menhenick, C O’Brien, L Russell, H Wilson, S Farrant, R Maddison, S Hughes, R Richards, C Hall. Subs: S Sargison, L Edwards, L Avis-Riordan, S Stevens, S Leary.