Witheridge 3 Falmouth Town 2 FALMOUTH Town’s hopes of winning the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League premier division took a severe blow on Easter Monday as they were beaten 3-2 by struggling Witheridge.

The defeat, their first in 2010, was made worse by the fact that leaders Buckland Athletic won, 5-0 at Elburton Villa, stretching their advantage over Town to nine points, with nine games left to play.

The Witheridge match started lively enough and in the first minute, with Town playing up the slope and into the wind, Matt Drummond flicked the ball on to Ryan Fice. His snap shot forced the home keeper to dive and finger tip the ball just wide of the post.

Drummond, Fice and Liam Eddy all had the home defence panicking, not allowing them the room to clear the ball up field. However, all their running bore no fruit as whenever a chance came along poor finishing let them down.

Witheridge weathered the early storm and began to turn things in their favour. From one break a good chance materialised, but with two strikers bearing down on Chapman’s goal, they squandered the chance.

The home side did break the deadlock moments later though as David Hood tried a speculative shot from 25 yards out, which Chapman appeared to have covered. However, the ball hit a bump and went into the net over the helpless keeper.

Town pressed straight from the restart and won a free-kick which was taken by Jimmy Alexander. It found Tom Smith in the penalty area, but he lost his footing and fell onto the ball.

Drummond then broke down the right where he put in a pin-point cross for Fice, whose header flashed wide of the post when he should have at least tested the keeper. The game swung from end to end, with Eddy and Josh Sims having efforts for Town while Steve Ebdy always looked dangerous for Witheridge, smashing one effort just over the cross bar. Then, for Town, disaster struck when, from a route one ball, Richard Lamacroft stunned the visitors by rifling the ball home for 2-0.

Within two minutes of the restart, Town had pulled a goal back. Copying the home side’s tactics, the ball was knocked forward, by Eddy, to Dummond who finished confidently.

Town then had a period of dominance, forcing several corners, but all were wasted. Witheridge resorted to heavy defending with tackles flying in from all angles, one of which from Dave Hambley on Ben Stidwell should have received at least a caution. Another heavy challenge on Dan Green just outside the home side’s penalty area gave Town a free-kick. Alexander hit it towards the far post where Fice and Eddy were lurking. Their presence deceived home keeper John Wannell who was expecting one of them to head the ball back across the goal. However, the strong wind played its part in curling the ball just inside the post to put Town level.

Having got back into the game and starting to take control, for some reason Town started to panic when all that was needed was a period of calm. However, just when a draw looked to be on the cards, Witheridge broke down the wing and despite appeals for off-side, no flag came from the referee's assistant and the ball was played to Ebdy who made no mistake in slotting the ball into the net to give the home side all three points.

FALMOUTH TOWN 4 ST BLAZEY 0 Falmouth recorded an excellent 4-0 win against St Blazey at Bickland Park last Thursday.

It was their best result against the Saints since the 1994/95 season when they won by the same score line. The win was made all the sweeter as it was witnessed by an attendance of 366, the largest crowd to be seen at Bickland Park for some time.

Falmouth were put under pressure by St Blazey right from the kick-off and were forced back on the defensive for long periods.

Falmouth got a corner after 15 minutes which saw Tom Smith’s header rebound out to Sean Flynn, but his shot was charged down by a defender and cleared away.

St Blazey again went on the attack, but Town’s defence were starting to show just why they have the best record in the Premier Division as Danny Zalick and Josh Higman were both stopped in their tracks as they tried to figure their way through.

St Blazey had strong appeals for a penalty turned down after half an hour when, following an initial shot that had struck a post, the return shot in by Zalick appeared to hit Ben Stidwell’s hand, but after consulting with his assistant, referee Tim Burley awarded a drop ball on the edge of the six yard box.

Town took the lead after 40 minutes when, following a corner, Flynn headed home through a ruck of players much to the delight of the home fans.

Falmouth started the second half with Nigel Thwaites coming on to replace Robin Teagle and it took only five minutes for this change of tactics to pay dividends. Matt Drummond got on the end of a good ball out of midfield and cut in towards goal. He then pumped it across the area where Ryan Fice got to it ahead of keeper Tom Buckler to double Town’s advantage.

Falmouth went further ahead in the 66th minute when Dummond made another good run down the right, leaving a couple of defenders in his wake. He slid the ball across the area for Fice, who was waiting to slot it home for his 16th goal of the season.

Thwaites put the icing on the cake for Town four minutes from time when he blasted the ball home following a good run and pass from Ryan Fice.

Town. J Chapman, B Stidwell, R Teagle (N Thwaites), S Flynn, T Smith, T Barwell, R Kellow (J Sims), J Alexander (J Crowley), M Drummond, R Fice, D Green. Sub not used: L Eddy.