Football: Falmouth Town lose at home to Portishead Town

Falmouth Town went down to an undeserved 1-0 defeat against what looked to be an expensively assembled Portishead outfit in this keenly contested game under the lights at Bickland Park.

As Falmouth manager Andy Westgarth continued to shuffle his pack during this busy period, Harrison Jewell and Tom Annear returned in the centre of defence, and Luke Brabyn, interestingly, was assigned to man-mark the dangerous Kyle Egan.

Falmouth again started on the front foot, and in the second minute, they created their first chance.

Attacking the Packet End, Luke Barner was released down the right, and his cross from the byline found Webber in the six-yard box, but with the ball slightly behind him, he couldn’t get his header on target.

Portishead then started to play, and after a period of early pressure, Portishead's David Hurst got ahead of his defender at the near post from a corner and headed home from three yards out in the fifth minute.

Falmouth may well have feared the worst after the 7-0 defeat against the same opponents three days ago, but instead they put together a high-intensity, spirited performance against a Portishead side who had pace, guile and lots of experience.

Portishead were winning lots of corners, which Falmouth were defending well, and at the other end, Falmouth were testing visiting goalkeeper Jakob Glover with lots of high balls from crosses and free kicks, but his handling was excellent, and he claimed everything that came near him.

The half finished at 1-0 to the visitors.

It was a strong and committed first half from Town, and Portishead knew they were in a game.

Surely Falmouth’s plan would have been to maintain the levels of intensity in the second half, stay in the game and try to force an equaliser.

With no changes at half-time, it was a very even start to the second half, but as the half wore on, Portishead came under increasing pressure.

In a breathless two-minute period, with ten minutes of normal time remaining, Luke Barner saw his shot cleared off the line, before what looked like a blatant handball was dismissed by referee Ryan Cornelius, and from the resulting corner, a clear push from a Portishead defender was missed by all three officials, much to the disgust of the home supporters and players.

In such a tight game, and given their league position, Falmouth could have done without oversights such as these, but to their credit, they stayed calm and focused as they endeavoured to get something from the game.

Luke Brabyn put in an excellent performance in his unfamiliar man-marking role, and as a result, Portishead replaced Egan with Tom Llewellyn on 73 minutes as Portishead struggled to remain ahead.

Falmouth forced further corners and free kicks as they approached the end of normal time, but the ball would not fall kindly for them, and Portishead saw out the six minutes of stoppage time for a win that keeps them in the frame for the playoffs, and Portishead’s relief to have gone away with three points was tangible as they celebrated at the final whistle.

With Brixham winning again, Falmouth are now one point and two places above the relegation zone, with their games in hand starting to run out.

However, on this performance, they will surely gather enough points to retain their place in this league for another season.

Falmouth Town: Morgan Jones, Bradley Leivers, Martyn Duff, Harrison Jewell, Tom Annear (c), Luke Barner, Luke Brabyn, Jared Sims, Jack Webber, Oscar Massey, Rubin Wilson.

Subs: Fred Start-Walter, Cam Hutchison, Aaron Ibbotsen, Olly Evans, Ned Symons.

Portishead: Jakob Glover, Mason Winter, Jamie Adams, David Hurst, Oliver Woodhouse, Jay Murray, Mitchell Osmond, Owen Humphries, Kyle Egan (c), Jack Thorne.

Subs: Jaden Neale, Ethan Feltham, Tom Llewellyn, Lucas Vowles, Jordan Williams.