Falmouth Town manager Andrew Westgarth was fuming for two reasons after his side's heavy defeat at Helston Athletic.

A lacklustre Town were swept aside by their dominant hosts, with Mark Goldsworthy, Matt Bye, Ryan Beattie, Alex Wharton and Scott Beattie scoring as the Blues strolled to a comfortable 5-0 victory in their opening Dave Gardner Memorial Tournament match.

Westgarth was shown two yellow cards in quick succession by referee Nigel D'Arcy as he protested a decision, with Westgarth's father Mickey also receiving a yellow.

D'Arcy was a linesman in Town's 2-1 defeat to Truro City on Tuesday and was involved when coach Charlie Davis was sent off in that match, with the Town boss believing that those events could have influenced the official's decision to send him off.

“I’ve been manager for five years now and that’s the first time that’s ever happened to me," he said. "But this new rule comes in now and you can get yellow carded for talking to the referees it seems now.

“I’d like to think I do have a lot to say but I’m always very respectful and just a little disappointed with how it played out, and I felt like it was a bit premeditated because we had that referee on Tuesday.

“From my side of it though I’m disappointed, obviously as a manager I shouldn’t be conducting myself like that but I would back myself by saying I was not abusive or swearing.”

But Westgarth reserved greater disappointment for events on the pitch, and he did not hold back when assessing his side's performance.

“I never want to lose any game of football, but the only positive I can take from that is that’s probably the best thing that could have happened to us because we cannot be as bad as that again," he said.

“The most disappointing thing about the whole 90 minutes was that last 15 minutes and I learned a lot about my players there, because when things are going for you then you can be covered in glory, but when the chips are down and you’ve got to dig in deep, that’s when you see who is going to put it in for you.

“It has opened my eyes to a lot of things and I think it has definitely made my decision clearer for that Mousehole game as to who is starting and who is not, 100 per cent.

"I’m sure they’ll be absolutely delighted, which to be fair, if I was in their shoes and I won 5-0 I’d be the same, so I’m not going to be disrespectful to Helston because they thoroughly deserved the win.”