Combination League: Helston Athletic beat Carharrack while Wendron and Penryn face abandonment

I originally planned to spend my afternoon watching Wendron United Reserves play host to Penryn Athletic in their Combination League encounter, but found myself watching Helston Athletic Reserves play Carharrack after the game at Underlane was abandoned after just ten minutes.

As this meant I would not get a full game in and render any match report fairly useless, I decided to write this piece about the events of my hastily rearranged afternoon.

My usual routine of choosing which match to attend is fairly straightforward. I will have a look and see which of our South West Peninsula League sides are playing at home. If either of Premier duo Falmouth Town or Helston Athletic are at home then I will venture to one of them. If not, then Porthleven or Wendron United of Division 1 West will get the nod.

This week, as it happens, was a rarity in that none of them were at home, so I turned my attentions to the Combination League. Wendron United Reserves against Penryn Athletic was the leading candidate given that two teams in our immediate ‘Falmouth and Helston Packet’ area were playing each other, so Underlane it was.

Fast forward to match day and the rain that besieged most of last winter’s fixture list had made one of its admittedly rare appearances this season.

Those who followed local football last season will remember only too well how much the rain affected the local football calendar. Up and down the leagues the games would be called off week after week, with some teams not playing a game for nearly three months because of it.

But this season, thankfully, has not seen a repeat of it. In fact there has only been one washout this season, which was back in December when only Helston Athletic Reserves’ game at home to St Just survived the weather. The Blues were to play a key role once again in my sports reporting misadventures.

After hours of constant rain I was still yet to see any cancellation of the Wendron-Penryn game, so I drove across to Underlane under the assumption that the game was going ahead.

I parked up and waited in my car for the rain to subside before walking over to the clubhouse, before soon realising that wasn’t going to happen and made my way across.

As I walked across I saw the Wendron boys warming up, although I doubt they were particularly warm, and it looked like we may well be getting a game of football.

Almost miraculously, the rain eased off as soon as both sides emerged from the changing rooms and walked out towards the pitch. Although the first team were up at Dobwalls, the reserve pitch was used to preserve the first team’s pitch from taking too much of a battering ahead of their Cornwall Senior Cup quarter-final with Porthleven next week. Frustratingly, this meant that there would be no shelter for me.

Referee Justin Moses got the game underway as I walked around to the far touchline, where I stood and watched two teams attempt to play football on the wet and muddy surface.

Penryn started – and ended, given the brevity of the match – the stronger of the two and could have led inside six minutes when a cross was fired across goal, with Penryn’s leading scorer Ryan Reeve unable to get his foot on it and steer it in at the far post.

The visitors continued to come forward and looked dangerous on either flank, with Dron captain Elliott Webb doing well to clear an inviting low cross from Bradley Leivers.

And that was about it, with Moses beckoning Penryn manager Harry Pope and Wendron’s joint-bosses Josh McDonald and Andrew Mitchell across for a chat before calling an end to proceedings amid safety concerns.

An inquest began as to why the decision was made now, when conditions had hardly changed before the game had begun, but the right decision was made.

Not everyone was disappointed, with Penryn’s goalkeeper celebrating a clean sheet as he returned to the changing room. I’m not sure he even touched the ball.

Interestingly, this was Wendron’s second abandonment on the trot, after last weekend’s 4-1 defeat at home to Illogan RBL was cut short by eight minutes after an injury to Matt Larcombe.

For the first time in my - admittedly brief - sports reporting career I was faced with having to quickly search for another game to attend with all of the remaining games in the area well underway by this point.

My initial back-up plan of Falmouth Town reserves against St Day in the same division had also fallen victim to the elements, so I plumped for league leaders Helston Athletic Reserves’ game at home to bottom side Carharrack.

Such was the gulf between the two sides that the score was already 2-0 to the Blues before I left Underlane, and had become 3-0 by the time I pitched up at Kellaway Park. Jowan Shainberg had opened the scoring before Charlie Young continued his incredible goal scoring form of late with another brace.

Three became five barely two minutes later, with Young wrapping up his fourth hat-trick in a month before Shainberg slotted in his second of the game to give the home side a 5-0 lead at half-time.

Remarkably the sun was beginning to shine through the trees and obstructing my view as the players emerged for the second half, meaning that, unbelievably, after spending hours wishing for sun I was now wishing it would go away.

I moved over to the grandstand end of the pitch to watch the second half, where Helston were likely to be camped out inside the Carharrack penalty area.

After an ominous first ten minutes, Shainberg broke the second half deadlock to match the efforts of his team-mate and bag his hat-trick, doubling his tally for the season to six goals.

Jamie Thomson netted goal number seven with around 20 minutes to go before Craig Tanner notched number eight a few minutes later.

There were chances to add to the scoring but the referee soon brought the game to a conclusion, as I ended my afternoon viewing six miles from where I began it.

At the end of an eventual afternoon, it is very much ‘as you were’ for all four sides. Helston remain top of the league, Carharrack remain bottom, and Wendron and Penryn remain on the same number of points as they begun the afternoon.

I will be returning to Underlane next week for the aforementioned Cornwall Senior Cup quarter-final tie. Hopefully my visit will last a little bit longer this time.

Helston Athletic v Carharrack pictures by Colin Higgs