Plymouth Argyle 4, Falmouth Town 2

A CATASTROPHIC first 20 minutes saw Falmouth Town slump to defeat against high-flyers Plymouth Argyle in their South West Peninsula League Premier match at Coach Road on Saturday.

Argyle were first to acclimatise to the rough weather conditions and flew out of the traps, with Town finding themselves three goals down after 21 minutes following goals from Lionel Ainsworth, Alex Fletcher and Luke Jephcott.

Tim Nixon began the recovery for the visitors early in the second half, but Argyle restored their three-goal lead when Fletcher scored following an error from Town 'keeper Ryan Barnes, before James Ward pulled another back with 15 minutes to go.

The howling winds and heavy rain affected numerous games up and down the region, but Argyle brushed them to one side and took the lead after eight minutes following a Falmouth corner. The ball was cleared and Argyle countered through Ainsworth, who outpaced the defence and slotted past the onrushing Barnes.

The hosts doubled their lead seven minutes later when Fletcher poked home from six yards after a penalty box scramble.

Town made their first foray into the Argyle half soon after when Nixon's cross was intercepted by Argyle 'keeper Tyler Coombes with player-manager Andrew Westgarth lying in wait.

But the home side made it three on 21 minutes when Jephcott fired a low and hard shot past Barnes and into the corner.

At this point it may have looked like a case of how many Argyle would score, but Town slowly began to assert themselves. Joe Cooper headed wide from a corner, Luke Johnson shot wide and Westgarth's flicked header forced a good save from Coombes. 

The visitors got their rewards three minutes into the second half, with Nixon catching the Argyle defence cold when he cut in from the left and drove a shot into the corner.

Falmouth now had their tails up with Johnson trying his luck with a 25-yard effort that flew inches wide of the post.

But disaster struck on the hour when Fletcher's tame shot from the edge of the box slipped through Barnes' grasp and rolled into the empty net behind him.

Barnes was able to make amends shortly after when he tipped Fletcher's goalbound free-kick over the crossbar as Argyle hunted a fifth.

But the final goal of the game was to go the way of the away side, with Ward firing home the rebound after Cooper's header had struck the crossbar.

Falmouth: R Barnes, D Blizzard, O Moody, R Martt, J Cooper, J Ward, M Duff, J Webber, L Johnson (D Broglino 78), A Westgarth (L Brabyn 70), T Nixon (C Davis 82). Subs (unused): J Miller.