Porthleven 2, Bodmin Town 4

FOR a brief period in the second half Porthleven looked like they may pull off a memorable cup upset against their illustrious opponents in the sunshine at Gala Parc.

Trailing 2-0, they hauled themselves back into the game with two splendid goals and had the visitors rocking, before Bodmin showed their class to complete the victory.

There was little in the way of goalmouth action in the opening half hour, but Bodmin broke the deadlock in controversial fashion after 28 minutes.

Ollie Brokenshire began the counter attack but when the ball was played out to the left, the Bodmin attacker was clearly in an offside position.

However, Porthleven’s own linesman missed it and when the ball was centred, Steve Rogers was on hand to shoot past James Wignall, who got a hand to it but was unable to keep it out.

Port’s first effort on goal was a long range effort that was comfortably collected by keeper David Painter, while Bodmin continued to threaten at the other end.

Brokenshire’s angled pass released right back Tim Nixon into the penalty area and he fizzed in a low cross which Ben Stidwell managed to toe on to Adam Carter and over the crossbar.

Carey’s fierce drive on the stroke of half time was turned past the left hand post by Painter, but the hosts had rarely troubled an organised visiting defence.

That all changed in the second period and they almost equalised after 52 minutes when Carey’s hoisted cross found Dan Hindmarch in acres of space six yards out, but as he waited for the ball to come down, a covering defender managed to block his effort.

Bodmin doubled their advantage with a beautifully crafted goal after 56 minutes.

Shane Jewell played the ball in to the edge of the area and Ben Watson's brilliant dummy run left Steve Colwell with time and space to pick his spot past Wignall.

It might have been a procession thereafter, but Port had other ideas.

Matt Drummond’s well-judged through-ball set Carey away and he drilled a fine shot past the outstretched right hand of Painter from the edge of the area on the hour mark.

Port then enjoyed their best spell of the match and on 70 minutes they squared the tie when fine build-up down the right resulted in Hindmarch receiving the ball on the edge of the area and shooting low past Painter, in the same corner as Carey’s effort.

Bodmin called on all their experience to weather the storm and restored their lead 13 minutes from time when substitute Neil Slateford wriggled free in the box and crossed low for Adam Carter to produce a lunging finish into the roof of the net.

Substitute Sean Haskell-Mills brought some zip and energy to Port’s front line but before he had time to make an impression, Bodmin added a fourth when Slateford exchanged passes with Carter before shooting home left footed.

Haskill-Mills then made a fine break down the right, cut inside and received a return pass from Carey before seeing his deflected effort go narrowly wide.

It summed up Port’s afternoon – close, but no cigar.