Football: Late winner gives Falmouth fourth straight win

Jared Sims 78’

Att: 191

Falmouth’s last midweek game of the season under the lights took place at Bickland Park on Tuesday night, and they continued their excellent run of results with a fourth consecutive victory, courtesy of a quality strike from Jared Sims.

Ollie Walker was again available, and hence the starting eleven from Saturday’s great victory over Bishop’s Cleeve remained unchanged.

The first half was one of the most uneventful of this season’s campaign, with both teams struggling with the wind and a hard pitch just recovering from the winter’s rain.

Falmouth started well, and with Luke Brabyn at centre forward, they were trying to play through the midfield instead of playing the aerial ball.

Incidents were at a premium, though, and the only action of note came in the 37th minute.

A Falmouth corner was cleared to Ollie Evans on the edge of the box.

He beat his man and shifted the ball onto his left foot before hitting a powerful goalward shot, which was saved at full stretch by Inkberrow keeper Umit Emanoglu.

With Falmouth having the advantage of the wind in the second half, the game was changed by manager Andy Westgarth’s double substitution on 53 minutes.

He introduced Kian Thomas for Ollie Evans and Cam Hutchison for Luke Brabyn.

Thomas’ pace and direct play introduced a higher tempo to the game, and Falmouth started to create some chances.

After 11 minutes, Oscar Massey latched onto a through ball from Jack Webber down the right.

He hit a powerful first-time shot on the run from an angle which Emanoglu just managed to turn around the post.

The next chance came after a neat piece of close control and interchange from Hutchison and Thomas on the touch-line, which ended in Thomas hitting a lovely through ball from the outside of his boot to Massey.

He closed in on the keeper, but his powerful shot cleared the bar, and it remained at 0-0.

Falmouth were in the ascendancy now and forced a corner down the left soon after, which was directed beyond Emanoglu’s far post.

Harrison Jewell headed it back across the goal to Tom Annear, whose shot was cleared off the line by an Inkberrow defender.

The consensus on the ground was that the ball had crossed the line, but the assistant referee held firm.

With 31 minutes of the half elapsed, Falmouth finally made the breakthrough.

A free kick was played into the box, which Inkberrow failed to clear. Hutchison, who had a fine game after his earlier introduction, disrupted the defenders, and the ball fell to Jared Sims 18 yards out, who cut across and down on the ball, and it flew unerringly inside the far post.

A great strike worthy of winning the game.

Falmouth weren’t finished yet, and with four minutes remaining, Thomas hit the post from a wide angle.

The next minute, Massey was played through again, but he missed the target with only the keeper to beat.

It was a well-deserved win, courtesy of a much-improved second-half display, in the end from the home side and pushed Falmouth to 13th position in the league going into their final match on Saturday, home to relegation strugglers Melksham Town.

Falmouth Town: Morgan Jones, Bradley Leivers, Fred Start-Walter, Harrison Jewell, Tom Annear©, Ollie Evans, Jack Webber, Jared Sims, Ollie Walker, Luke Brabyn, Oscar Massey. Subs: Kian Thomas, Cam Hutchison, Aaron Ibbotson, Evan Tresidder, Martyn Duff.

S.C. Inkberrow: Umit Emanoglu, Ruben Freeman, Thomas Owen, Gregor Guy©, Luke Bastable, William Moore, Alex Griffiths, Tom Emblem, Aiden Clark, Zachary Powell, Jack Tolley. Subs: Nathan Benson, Robbie Guy, Jackson Preece, Syrus Warren-Paul, Raheem Spencer.

Ref: Aiden Madden.