Falmouth Town 4 - Bideford 4
Falmouth Town finally played a second home game of 2026 after a string of postponements when they entertained their long-time rivals Bideford in this Southern League Division 1 game on Tuesday night.
Anyone present who was a neutral fan would have left happy after seeing a fine 8-goal thriller, but the Falmouth fans, given Falmouth’s precarious league position, were not smiling as they filed out of the ground at the final whistle after watching their team lose a 3-goal lead with only 16 minutes of normal time remaining.
Falmouth started the game on top, forcing four corners within the first 10 minutes, but were playing a high line.
Falmouth keeper Morgan Coxhead had to test his sweeper keeper credentials, advancing quickly off his line to clear a ball over the top with the Bideford forward advancing.
The first half developed into a scrappy affair with a lack of quality from both sides in the final third, although Falmouth’s pacy attack looked the most likely to make the breakthrough.
It was from such an attack that Oscar Massey was brought down just outside the corner of the penalty area in the 30th minute.
Luke Barner and Tom Annear pondered over the kick, but it was Barner who stepped up with a quality strike past Semmens into the Bideford goal.
Falmouth added to their tally after 39 minutes.
Another Falmouth attack saw the ball break to Jack Webber in a forward position.
He hit a well-weighted pass inside the Bideford left back to find Barner, who latched on to it before hitting a low shot into the corner of Semmens’ goal off the far post.
Bideford raised their game in the last five minutes, and it was end-to-end stuff until referee Neil Lane halted proceedings for the half-time break.
Falmouth had chances to double their lead within the first 3 minutes of the second half when on both occasions, Luke Brabyn outpaced the Bideford defence, but he was unable to find Massey with a pass in the first instance, or beat Semmens in the subsequent attack.
After the early scare, Bideford started having the better of the play and 14 minutes into the half, Ryan Turner hit a shot goalwards which took a heavy deflection and looped over Coxhead and into the Falmouth goal to make it 2-1.
The Falmouth faithful started to look nervous as they remembered having surrendered similar leads in the recent past, but they needn’t have worried, or so it seemed, because one minute later they witnessed a classic Oscar Massey strike.
The pacy winger picked the ball up just inside the Bideford half, ran at his full back and cut in, unleashing a powerful shot past Semmens.
The game looked to have been put out of reach of Bideford 26 minutes from time when Barner grabbed his hat-trick after being played through over the top.
He carried the ball forward and placed it underneath the dive of Semmens, to great celebrations from the Falmouth fans and players.
Falmouth manager Andy Westgarth understandably seized the opportunity to give game time to what was a strong bench, bringing four substitutes on within a few minutes.
However, Bideford did similarly, and all of a sudden, they had upped their intensity to levels nowhere near reached so far in the game.
They dominated for the remainder of the half and played at such a high tempo that Falmouth were continually forced to clear their lines and surrender possession.
With 14 minutes to go, they made it 4-2 when Louis Slough turned the ball in from a corner, but Town held out until the 87th minute when Slough again converted, pouncing on a loose ball in the area and scoring from 10 yards out.
Surely Bideford couldn’t finish the job and get another, but as the clock hit 90 minutes, a Bideford attacker was brought down in the box, and Finn Roberts stepped up with an emphatic penalty to make it 4-4 and deny Falmouth what looked like a certain 3 points.
Falmouth make the long trip to Malvern Town on Saturday before entertaining Bristol Manor Farm on Tuesday, March 3, weather permitting.
At present, they are relying on goal difference to stay out of the relegation zone following Willand Rovers' win against Shaftesbury on Wednesday, and they will need to capitalise on the games in hand they have over the teams immediately around them in the league table if they want to stay in this league for next season.
Falmouth Town: Morgan Coxhead, Bradley Leivers, Tom Annear, Harrison Jewell, Fred Start-Walter, Olly Evans, Jared Sims, Jack Webber, Luke Brabyn, Luke Barner, Oscar Massey. Subs: Rubin Wilson, Ned Symons, Martyn Duff, Cam Hutchison, Aaron Ibbotsen.
Bideford Town: Shaun Semmens, Alex Byrne (C), Harvey Field, Alex Moyse, Oliver Gardner, Louie Slough, Finn Roberts, Archie Reay, Ryan Turner, Jack Winsor, Javan Wright.
Subs: Sam Lord, Farren Simons, Aaron Taylor, Brad Williams.
Ref: Neil Lane.
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