FALMOUTH Town enjoyed as comfortable a win as they’ll have all season on Saturday, as they dominated a struggling St Dennis side for more or less the entire 90 minutes at Bickland Park.

If anything, they could be disappointed for not doing more to swell their goal difference, putting four past the Saints on an afternoon when they could easily have doubled that, but for some wayward shooting and heroics from visiting ‘keeper James Hunkin.

David Broglino, Sam Pickup, Joe Cooper and Martyn Duff were the quartet to find the back of the net for Town – legally, that is, after Matt Buchan’s strike was disallowed for offside.

The visitors’ hard defensive graft made sure that the scoreline did not get embarrassing, and they had Jacob Rowe’s late penalty – their only shot on target all game – to reward their efforts, although there was more than a bit of luck attached to it.

That lack of a clean sheet disappointed Town boss Andrew Westgarth, but his side tasted victory once again and moved back to sixth in the South West Peninsula League Premier West table – a fitting way to mark their final home game of 2019.

Luke Brabyn set the tone for Town with a shot over the bar inside two minutes after a good spell of build-up play around the Saints’ box.

This theme continued through Buchan, who flicked a cross at Hunkin from close range, and Nixon, who spurned two chances, before Broglino opened the scoring in superb fashion on 18 minutes. The midfielder controlled Nixon’s pass on the edge of the box with his first touch before effortlessly flicking his boot to send the ball into the top corner with his second.

Hunkin was on hand to frustrate the hosts for the next 20 minutes until Pickup netted the second shortly before the break. Broglino arrowed another long-range effort, which was parried by Hunkin into the path of Nixon, who blasted his shot against the underside of the crossbar and towards Pickup, who slid the ball into the empty net.

That afforded Town a bit of breathing space, but would that extra comfort nudge Town into free flowing, goalscoring mode, or would it breed complacency?

Neither, as it turned out, with Town playing out another 25 minutes of frustrating dominance until their third goal arrived.

Buchan cut the most frustrated figure, with the striker having two close-range shots saved and a third finding the side netting. His luckless afternoon plumbed new depths when he finally beat Hunkin, only for the linesman’s flag to go up for offside.

Cooper had no such problems when he headed in the all-important third goal from Broglino’s corner in the 70th minute to make sure of the win – Falmouth’s 15th in their last 20 games in all competitions.

That said, they were hardly in danger of losing the game, as St Dennis struggled to make in-roads into Town’s resolute back four.

Indeed, Falmouth ‘keeper Steve Parker-Billinge didn’t have a save to make all afternoon, until he was picking the ball out of the net for the Saints’ consolation goal in the 85th minute.

Town defender Scott Kellow appeared to make a perfectly legal and well-timed challenge to dispossess the onrushing Saints forward inside the box, only for referee Mark Hosking to, after consulting with his linesman, award the penalty, with Rowe firing the spot kick past Parker-Billinge and down the middle.

A look back at the highlights after the game showed Kellow’s challenge to be spot on, meaning Parker-Billinge’s clean sheet, which was dashed despite not having another save to make, was cruelly taken away from him and his defenders.

Duff restored the three-goal margin in the final minute to ensure the game ended on a positive note for the hosts and their supporters, as well as one fan in a red Santa suit that stuck out like a sore thumb in the sea of yellow and black scarves.

Next up for Town is the entirely different proposition of Mousehole, who have still lost just one league game this season.

The teams drew 0-0 at Bickland on the opening day of the season, and another on Thursday night would do Town nicely, but victory would give Westgarth and his side a very merry Christmas indeed.