Helston Women emphatically defeated Mousehole Women at Borlase Park on Sunday writes Paul Parfitt.


A very wet and windy match day and much credit must be given to Dawn Bateman of Mousehole for re-arranging a venue and in turn for Pendeen Rovers for hosting the game.


This Helston side arrived in good form having secured the league title the week before at Penryn. The team was changed a little from the previous week and a change of formation too as manager Paul Parfitt opted for an attacking 3-4-3 set up as opposed to their more accustomed 4-3-3.


Both sides started brightly causing each other issues and Mousehole held firm as Helston pressed. An unfortunate injury to Mousehole’s Candice Britten saw her withdrawn after 12 minutes leaving the hosts with a bare XI. It was 20 minutes before Helston broke the deadlock with Charlotte Sparkes-Bond smartly finishing a cross from Moxom.


Moxom started to dictate the early part of the match and with some excellent pressing from Hannaford, Rae and White in midfield it wasn’t long before Moxom had completed her hat-trick of assists setting up Captain Sasha Sparkes for her first two of the day.


With Helston in control, Parfitt introduced a couple of substitutes with Barker-Thomas scoring against her old side within sixty seconds of her introduction. As half-time came Helston went in with a comfortable four goal lead.
With the trophy secured and post-match presentation from the FA’s Nigel Hannaford in the offing perhaps the individual target of the day was for Sparkes to chase the five goals, she needed to finish the league’s top scorer and overhaul the tally of 19 Beth Churchill had amassed for Penryn.


After the break it was Mousehole who fought back with Sophie Wilson driving from midfield to ball the ball over the keeper with an exquisite lob, it was back to the striking double act of Barker-Thomas and Sparks to restore Helston’s control in the game with Barker-Thomas completing her hat trick before goals from Moore and a superb set-piece header from Georgie Sweet took the result far beyond doubt, as Sparkes rounded the keeper with ten minutes to go the Golden Boot was hers, it was five for the Skipper and 11 for her team.


It’s been a season of development for Mousehole and they will be content with a third place finish in the league. Helston will look to make an impact in the South West Regional Women’s Football League next season whilst also maintaining an interest in the Cornwall Women’s Football League with the newly formed Development Side. Helston will have aspirations of retaining that league title next season for sure.


HELSTON TEAM: E Moore, S Sparkes-Bond, E Brewer, G Sweet, R Hannaford, D White, K Moxom, J Sweet, S Sparkes (c), A Rae, C Sparkes-Bond. Subs Used: B Woods, K Barker-Thomas, C Demouy, S Clouter
Goalscorers: C Sparkes-Bond 20, Sparkes 22, 31, 57, 75, 81, Barker-Thomas 37, 54, 62, Moore 60, G Sweet 68.