PREMIER DIVISION Clyst 3 Liskeard 2 BLUES' player-manager Lee Harvey admitted his side did not wake up until it was too late at Waterslade Park as they suffered their second consecutive defeat of the festive period. 'Clyst Rovers had three chances and took them all, but to be fair we did not wake up until we were three goals down,' admitted Harvey. 'Had the game gone on another five minutes, then we might have grabbed the equaliser as we were the only side in it at that stage. 'To be fair it was a shocking pitch, terrible conditions and we were not helped by facing a side who were content to play the long ball,' he explained. The Blues were up against a side playing for their Premier Division lives, as Clyst manager Graham Roberts admitted. 'Every game is a cup final for us now and we have to keep this run going, especially with the sides around us winning,' he said. Liskeard had a strong wind at their backs in the first half but found themselves a goal down on 25 minutes. A Blues' attacked broke down as Clyst cleared their lines to Lloyd Gardner, who picked the ball up in midfield. He immediately sent in-form striker Nick Murray running clear to knock the ball past the advancing Simon Zinn. Liskeard were left chasing the game as Clyst doubled their lead 10 minutes after the break as Liam Collings' pass dissected a square Liskeard defence for Murray to run in behind and fire low past Zinn for his 14th goal in 16 games. Worse was to follow as Clyst added a third 20 minutes from time, when Gareth Davies picked up a clearance in the middle of the park to drive forward before shooting home from the edge of the box. Murray came within inches of grabbing his hat- trick, but Zinn made a great save to push his 25- yard drive over the bar. Harvey threw caution to the wind by pushing central defender Lee Bradd forward in an attempt to pull something back, and it almost worked. With 10 minutes left on the clock, Bradd supplied the final touch to a goalmouth scramble, after the home side had struggled to clear Jimmy Alexander's free-kick. Five minutes later, Clyst goalkeeper Nicky Moyse brought Bradd down, as he ran across the area, and Chris Wright narrowed the deficit to only one goal from the penalty spot. Liskeard were now pushing forward in numbers in a late attempt to rescue a point, and had they shown the same urgency in the opening stages, then the result might have been very different.
