FALMOUTH Town manager Andrew Westgarth bemoaned his side’s failure to build on last weekend’s opening-day victory as they suffered a disappointing 3-2 defeat at home to Wadebridge Town.

The Town boss was delighted after last Saturday’s emphatic 6-1 victory at Callington Town, but that delight turned to fury after a poor performance saw his side slip to defeat to the Bridgers, who finished the game with only nine men.

Matt Lloyd and Kyle Flew scored within five minutes of each other to make it 2-0 after 56 minutes, before David Broglino, who scored from the spot in that win at Callington, saw his penalty saved either side of red cards for Bridgers pair Tom Strike and Tom Crowe.

Broglino atoned for his earlier miss to halve the deficit, but Kieran Rowe made sure of the win in injury time despite Luke Brabyn’s late strike.

READ MORE: Town fall to disappointing defeat against nine-man Wadebridge

Although Westgarth was less than impressed with his own side, he reserved praise for Paul Rowe’s men for a fine performance.

"I thought they were excellent,” he said. “You have to take your hat off to them. I thought first half they were brilliant, they were the better side. In the second half we asked a lot of questions of them and they defended magnificently.”

He added: "I'm not taking anything away from Wadebridge because they thoroughly deserved their win and they were excellent, but from us I can't believe such a difference in a week, from how good we were at Callington to how bad we were today."

Town would have hoped to have seen a much-improved second-half showing after a less than impressive first 45 minutes, but Lloyd’s super strike and Flew’s penalty inside the first 12 minutes of the second period ensured Town’s afternoon was only going to get worse.

“I’m disappointed with the penalty we conceded because I thought the chance had gone,” Westgarth said. “You see it quite often, the striker’s taken the shot and ages later it’s more of a coming together than Barnesy [goalkeeper Ryan Barnes] taking him out.

“Obviously then 2-0 down is a big ask and we go up the other end and get a penalty and you’d normally put your mortgage on Broggy [Broglino] scoring, but I had a feeling the way he ran up, he sort of stuttered, but again you’ve got to give credit to the ‘keeper. It’s one of those where if it goes the other way it’s a great penalty, isn’t it?

“Key moments at key times. I think Coops [centre-back Joe Cooper] had a header at 1-1 at the back post and he’s missed it, and then they go up the other end and get a penalty.

“I said to the lads before the game, ‘I know it’s only game two but we’re at a crossroads in the season, what sort of team do you want to be this year? We’ve had a fantastic start which we don’t normally do; can we build on it?’ Unfortunately, we haven’t.”

IN PICTURES: 47 photos from Falmouth Town's 3-2 defeat to Wadebridge

Westgarth rung the changes at 2-0 down in an attempt to rescue the game, summoning Tim Nixon, Kirk Davies and Jack Bowyer from the bench in place of TJ Walter, Martyn Duff and Ollie Moody, but they were unable to provide the spark to stir a comeback as Wadebridge’s defence stood firm despite their numerical disadvantage.

“We went 3-5-2 and we went for it, but we didn’t do enough to unlock the door,” Westgarth said. “The crosses were overhit or the runs weren’t good enough or the passes were too straight or overhit.

“That was the disappointing thing, the amount of good possession we had or good areas we were in and we didn’t capitalise on that.”

The F-Troop marked their return to the stands by making themselves seen – thanks to a colourful balloon display before kick-off – and heard throughout the afternoon, but any hopes that the sizeable support would spur the team on to victory were soon confounded.

“I think in a way we’ve got to learn that because the boys just can’t expect to turn up here, have a massive support behind them and just expect it to happen,” Westgarth said.

“They’ve got to put the hard work in, they’ve got to put the effort in and the application’s got to be there, because at the end of the day that was poor.

“The amount of times we’ve misplaced it or were unable to hold the ball up was so unlike us, but like I said I’m not taking anything away from Wadebridge, because away from home it’s always difficult to get three points at the best of times, and to go 2-0 up, down to nine men and still hang on with the support we had, full credit to them.”

When asked what he could take from Saturday’s game into Wednesday night’s trip to Porthleven, Westgarth simply said: “It can’t be any worse than that. If it can then we’re in serious trouble.”