HELSTON Athletic manager Steve Massey was pleased to see his 'perfect game plan' come to fruition in Saturday's derby victory at home to local rivals Falmouth Town.

Olly Brokenshire, Phil Cattran and Neil Slateford all netted for Helston as they exacted revenge over their rivals for their two cup defeats earlier in the season, and secured a record 18th consecutive South West Peninsula League victory in the process.

Massey acknowledged the effectiveness of the game plan devised by him and new assistant manager Glynn Hooper, which saw them break from their usual high-intensity pressing game and switch to a more limiting tactic aimed at stopping Town's dangerous frontmen.

It appeared to work, as Town managed just one shot on target in the entire 90 minutes.

"I must admit I was fearful, purely because they seem to have the hoodoo on us," Massey said, "but the pleasing aspect was to hear [people saying] that Falmouth were lacklustre, they didn't get going, there was no sparkle about them, and that was our perfect game plan.

"Our ethos has been press, press, press and just fire teams, and we decided, with Hoops [Glynn Hooper, assistant manager], who, to be fair, sowed that seed to have a game plan and say, that's what Falmouth want us to do, to go flying at them because they will counter and hurt us and bully us on the break, and we just thought we just want to kill the game.

"We did a job on them. [Luke] Johnson's a real threat if he's allowed to get any little bit of success, but I thought Harrison [Jewell] played him well and Damon [Mulready], with all his experience, coped with him really well as well.

"I just thought our back four were excellent and middle three just keep getting better and better with their energy levels and their creativity."

Brokenshire gave the Blues the lead midway through the first half with a well-worked free-kick move, which saw Brokenshire run over the ball, Matt Bye provide a dummy and Billy Tucker play the ball back to the unmarked Brokenshire, who fired into the far corner.

"That free-kick was completely and utterly off the cuff between Brokey [Brokenshire] and Matty Bye," Massey said.

"It was something that we did last year between the two Beatties [Ryan and Scott] and Matty Bye, and one would run over the ball, down the side and then we play it in, and it was just another alternative of that one.

"It worked a treat, but we could do that again and he'll blaze it over the bar, but it came off on Saturday."

As well as the local bragging rights, the win set a new SWPL record of 18 consecutive league wins – a run which has seen the Blues not drop a single point since a 2-1 defeat at home to Liskeard Athletic on August 17.

The run of wins – during which the Blues have scored 83 goals, an average of 4.1 goals per game – has catapulted Helston to the top of the SWPL Premier West, two points clear of second-placed St Austell.

"We knew it was there, it's been the elephant in the room since game 11 when we equalled our club record," Massey said. "The guys have been brilliant, it's not been really spoken about on the group chat page, it's not been spoken on social media with them and it was something that was nice to be released yesterday.

"The chairman [Paul Hendy] had a great touch, it was a real classy touch. About 20 bottles of champagne were handed out to players and coaches, so it was really nice by the club."

The latest addition to the Helston side is assistant manager Glynn Hooper – who was announced as the replacement for former Truro City boss Leigh Robinson last week, who has taken over as manager of Dorchester Town – and the Cornwall under-18s head coach was instantly struck by the spirit in the dressing room, according to Massey.

"I just feel the dressing room is now as good as the dressing room I've had," Massey said. "We mustn't forget the huge contribution that Leigh Robinson made, but when you get somebody with the experience, the aura and the respect that Glynn Hooper commands, and he comes into the dressing room and he texted me last night and said, 'I've not seen anything like it'. The passion and the desire, he said, was unbelievable."