THE first part of a monthly review of the fortunes of our four main local teams - Falmouth Town, Helston Athletic, Porthleven and Wendron United - in the South West Peninsula League.

The month, year and decade began, as is tradition, with the latest round of Cornwall Senior Cup fixtures.

Wendron United were a surprise entrant into the last 16, given they suffered a 1-0 defeat at Callington Town in the previous round back in November.

But it later emerged that the east Cornwall side had fielded a suspended player and all of a sudden Jack Greenwood’s side were welcoming Torpoint Athletic to the Underlane for the first time ever.

They may wish that they hadn’t had that reprieve, something which Greenwood more or less admitted at full-time, after a devastating 15-minute spell saw them ship four goals on their way to a 6-1 defeat.

It was better news for reigning champions Falmouth Town, who booked their place in the quarter-finals with a 3-0 win at Dobwalls.

That joy turned to despair seven days later when they put in one of their poorest recent performances to slump to a 3-0 defeat at in-form local rivals Helston Athletic, as Steve Massey’s side avenged their humiliating 5-1 loss to Town in the FA Vase and set a new SWPL record of 18 consecutive league wins at the same time.

It was but their first consecutive win in all competitions after the Blues were dumped out of the Walter C Parson League Cup three days earlier, squandering a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 at defending champions and title rivals Saltash United.

Wendron made up for their Senior Cup stinker by eking out a 2-1 derby victory at home to Porthleven the following week, in which defender Adam Peters played 90 minutes between the sticks after an injury to second-team ‘keeper Joe Richards, who was deputising for first-choice Dan Stedman, in the warm-up.

Greenwood will have been happy with his side’s response to their Torpoint turmoil, but the Fishermen were left with their sixth successive defeat in all competitions, a run which, owing to the awful weather of recent times, extended back to mid-October.

Falmouth enjoyed a response of their own, shrugging off that derby defeat to win 4-2 at home to Torridgeside in the League Cup in front of 690 supporters at Bickand Park – their highest home crowd since October 1998.

Cups are certainly Falmouth’s forte these days and they ticked off another tie four days later, coming back from a goal down to beat Penzance 3-2 after extra-time at Penlee Park to secure their 30th win from their last 34 cup ties.

It was the fourth attempt at staging their Cornwall Charity Cup quarter-final tie, but Scott Kellow’s stunning strike in the 99th minute was worth the wait.

That joy could not be repeated three days later when Town welcomed St Blazey to Bickland Park, when several crowd-related incidents, with the police being called to the ground on two separate occasions, soured what was a confident 5-0 win for Andrew Westgarth’s side.

Porthleven managed to end the month on a happier note, finally ending their run of defeats with a 2-2 draw at Newquay in a remarkable game at Mount Wise Stadium. Five players were sent to the sin bin and both teams had a penalty saved, while Port had two strikes disallowed.

But the month belonged to Helston, who, despite that defeat to the Ashes, finished January off with two more victories at Penzance and Mousehole to ensure they remained five points clear at the top of the division.

Their 1-0 win under the lights at Trungle Parc saw them extend their winning run to an incredible 20 games, ending the Seagulls’ unbeaten home record in the process.