Falmouth Town 1, Exmouth Town 2

FALMOUTH Town were unable to prevent a third straight South West Peninsula League Premier defeat as Exmouth Town edged a tight affair at Bickland Park on Saturday.

The sides went into the half-time break level after Exmouth's Karl Rickard sent a penalty kick wide, but the visitors opened the scoring on the hour when Jordan Harris fired home from outside the box.

Dave Rowe doubled the lead with 20 minutes to go, only for David Broglino to pull one back from the spot within two minutes, but the Devonians held out to return to the top of the table and condemn Falmouth to a third loss on the bounce.

Falmouth haven't had the best of luck with injuries of late, with strikers Matt Buchan and Rob Wearne suffering fresh setbacks last weekend, and Tim Nixon added to the woes when he pulled up in the warm-up, meaning manager Andrew Westgarth had to step in at the eleventh hour.

The additional absences of Joe Cooper, Ryan Martt and Luke Brabyn also meant an appearance from the bench for Falmouth icon Ross Pope, who, almost two years after his last game for Town, came on with eight minutes to go.

Exmouth were first to threaten, although threaten may not be the right word, with Ben Steer and then Rickard firing well over Falmouth goalkeeper - and captain for the day - Ryan Barnes' crossbar.

Ace High was next in for the visitors after a bright run down the right flank. He cut inside and set himself to shoot but was denied by an excellent sliding tackle from Ollie Moody.

A fairly tranquil opening 20 minutes came to an abrupt halt when Falmouth's Martyn Duff was the victim of a heavy challenge from Jamie Dirrane, which sparked a 22-man melee. Dirrane saw yellow, as did Westgarth and Barnes for their part in the aftermath.

The game was much quieter until the final minute of the half when Rickard went down in the box under Luke Johnson's challenge. The referee pointed to the spot, with the same man stepping up and firing his kick wide of Barnes' right post.

A relieved away side brushed that disappointment aside in the 57th minute as they belatedly took the lead, with Harris picking up the ball on the edge of the Falmouth box and driving it into the bottom right corner.

That relief turned to delight 11 minutes later when Rowe, facing away from goal, turned High's header past a crowd of bodies from six yards to double the visitors' lead.

That delight was short lived when Johnson's scissor kick was blocked by High's hand, with Broglino hammering home the resulting penalty to set up a nailbiting final 20 minutes.

Falmouth pressed for a leveller with Sam Pickup narrowly missing before James Ward headed wide, before Exmouth had the ball in the net at the other end but after the referee had blown for a foul.

The big chance Falmouth had been looking for came in the third minute of added time, when a loose ball found its way to Duff on the edge of the box, but his strike fell into the grateful arms of Exmouth 'keeper Robbie Powell.

Falmouth: R Barnes, J Webber, O Moody (R Pope 85), S Pickup, D Blizzard, J Ward, L Johnson, D Broglino, J Bowyer, M Duff, A Westgarth. Subs (unused): T Nixon, C Davis, J Penhallurick, M Buchan.

Exmouth: R Powell, K Willdigs, S Avery, C Shipton, D Rowe, J Dirrane, A Denny, K Rickard, A High, J Harris, B Steer (N Cooper 67). Subs (unused): M Gillard, D Bore, M Lever, S Merritt.