HELSTON AFC travelled to Shepton Mallet on Saturday for their latest Toolstation Western Premier League clash at the Playing Fields in West Shepton.

Kicking off an a very warm Saturday afternoon, the game wasted no time in getting stuck in as, after less than two minutes, Mallet’s man between the sticks was sent off for bringing down Helston’s Rubin Wilson just outside of the area.

However, the home side didn’t let their heads drop straight away and almost managed to poke their noses in front ten minutes later.

Despite being down to just ten men, Mallet’s Lege was able to dispossess Helston’s Moxham before laying the ball off for Sloggett whose thunderous effort from 20-yards out crashed off the crossbar.

Minutes later it was Helston’s turn to make their opposite numbers sweat but their effort, despite hitting the back of the net, was ruled out for offside.

After 25 minutes, both teams had a well-deserved water break before resuming the game and Mallet almost got themselves an opening goal when Gould put Bateson through, however, his shot was blocked and went out for a corner. Keeping the pressure up, Mallet’s Corner was met by the head of Rutty but the effort sailed over the bar.

On the 30-minute mark, a breakthrough was finally made when Helston broke with a long ball forward which was chased down by Shepherd who kept the ball up by the opposition’s corner flag before offloading it to Smith who fed it into Rubin Wilson who held his marker, turned, and fired the ball past the keeper to open the scoring.

Helston’s advantage wouldn’t last long, however, as Mallet were awarded a free kick after Sloggett was brought down by a foul at around the 22-yard mark. Despite Helston putting some big players in front of it, Bateson’s free kick curls low around the outside of the wall and into the back of the net, levelling the score.

As the half-time whistle came, the scoreline was level and, despite some decent spells of football, Helston had been unable to take advantage of their extra man.

After the start of the second half, Mallet attacked the Helston defence once again but were unable to find a clinical finish to put them ahead.

After then repelling several Helston attacks, Mallet were awarded another free kick in the away team’s half but the floated ball drifted out for a goal kick.

Just before the 60th minute, Mallet’s Sloggett was taken off with a suspected fractured arm and sent to A&E.

After winning a lose ball from a Mallet throw in, Helston once again broke away with Jordan Copp finding substitute Curtis Damerell just outside the edge of thew area who steadied himself before firing off a shot that rolled along the pitch before passing the keeper and pushing Helston in front.

With just ten minutes plus added time left, Helston further cemented their lead when a period of good build up play saw an attempt from Copp pick up a deflection on its way goalward and beat the keeper to give The Blues a two-goal advantage.

Five minutes later, Helston all but secured the game in their favour after a long ball over the top finds Damerell in space with the keeper rushing out to meet him. The striker takes once glance and the oncoming keeper before dinking the ball over him and scoring Helston’s fourth.

As the game drew to a close, Mallet looked to find themselves a final consolation goal but their efforts went unrewarded as Helston caught them out with a counter attack that saw Damerell take on his man with a nice flick over the defender’s head before setting himself and smashing a half-volley passed the Mallet keeper to make the final score Shepton Mallet 1-5 Helston Atheltic.