carlsberg south western league Liskeard 4 St Austell 1 THE scoreline may suggest this was a comfortable victory for the Blues over the Lillywhites at Lux Park, but Liskeard boss Dave Leonard felt his side had underachieved. 'We took over an hour to get going and certainly made harder work of the game than we should have,' said Leonard. 'I will not tolerate sloppy standards and we will be working on our all-round forward play in training this week because I felt that we were guilty of over- confidence in front of goal.' There are times when the Blues shoot themselves in the foot – and the loaded gun duly went off in the 20th minute when, totally against the run of play, St Austell opened the scoring. In their first – and, as some argued, virtually their last – attack of the game, Demetri Kanakh supplied the pass for Dan O'Connor to shoot home from 20 yards. To Liskeard's credit, the lead lasted only two minutes as Paul Baker popped up in the visiting penalty box to prod home Matt Hawke's header. Despite all their pressure, however, it took until the 55th minute for the Blues to get their noses in front. Sam Matthews ran on to a typical Baker flick- on and his pace was enough to give him time to pick his spot past St Austell goalkeeper Martin Quantock from 15 yards. Now, Liskeard were rampant and it was only backs- to-the-wall defiance, led by the able Quantock, that kept Liskeard out until the 70th minute. At that point, John Morris more-or-less killed off any faint hopes Lillywhites might have had when he headed home after Dan Nancarrow had flicked on James Alexander's corner. Ten minutes later, the scoreline began to take on a more realistic look when Matthews scored his second goal of the game, shooting home from 12 yards following a Simon Parnell pass. The win may well keep Liskeard right in the League honours mix but, as Leonard admits, this match proves his side still have much to learn. 'It's a win and I suppose that is what the record book will show, but it is the manner of the win that rankles and our over-confidence which, on another day, could have cost us,' explained Leonard. Callington Town 2 Saltash Utd 2 IT will be fairly difficult to work out who will be more disappointed after this south east Cornwall derby ended in a stalemate at Ginsters Marshfield Parc. Town boss Geoff Battams saw his side surrender a two-goal lead with only ten minutes left on the clock, although he was adamant the equalising goal should not have been allowed. Meanwhile, his Ashes counterpart Tim Halford will be wondering how his side could only draw a game that they pretty much dominated from start to finish. The first half was a fairly scrappy affair with the visitors on top, although more damage was done by the Ashes' shooting to the woodland behind the Callington goal than to the goal itself. Callington, for their part, ventured less into Ashes' territory in the first half, but at least they managed to keep Saltash goalkeeper Lee Carew more alert than Town 'keeper Dan Johnson had to be. The second half, however, began with a real bang when Town took the lead within four minutes of the restart, Gareth Jones netting from wide out after the ball ran loose from a challenge between Carew and Chris Gerry. The shock of going behind then worsened for Saltash as Callington added a second goal within four minutes, Gerry netting from close range after a Jones shot had cannoned off both a post and Carew. Saltash increased their efforts, but their huffing and puffing looked to be getting them nowhere against a hard-working Town side – until the last 13 minutes. Saltash supporters will know just how the Town faithful will be feeling as the Ashes scored two goals in the game's final minutes, the second in injury time, as Plymouth Parkway had done the same thing to the Ashes two weeks ago. Toby Clarke's 77th-minute volley began the late show, which then became the late, late show in injury time when Mark Chapman secured a point with a shot which somehow went straight through a crowded penalty box into the net. That second goal was met with fierce protests from the home camp as it came from a hotly disputed corner decision from a referee's assistant – a decision that left Battams so incensed that he opted to remain ensconced inside the home dressing room long after the final whistle while he regained his composure. Halford, however, was happy to emerge from the away dressing room to give his version of events. 'I thought we dominated the game from start to finish and we were as good this week as we were poor last week. 'To be fair, at 2-0 down with ten minutes to go, we would have accepted a point – it's typical of football though – against Parkway we were two-up with ten minutes to go; now it's the other way around.' Penryn Ath 1 Plymouth Argyle 7 ARGYLE served notice that they are well and truly in the title hunt with a seven-goal demolition of Penryn at Kernick, which saw them top the League table once more. On a perfect playing surface, Argyle were three goals to the good by half-time and, far from taking it easy after the break, went on to add four further goals against a Penryn side who themselves are in sixth place in the League table. 'The boys served up an excellent performance and, all-in-all, it was a good day,' commented Argyle youth manager Stuart Gibson. The stars of the show for Argyle were striker Sam Malsom, who notched a rare second-half headed hat-trick, and left-sided midfielder Ryan Dickson, who supplied a string of crosses. After Anthony Mason had opened the scoring for the young Pilgrims with a 12-yard drive in the 25th minute, Argyle scored twice more before the break through Jamie Laird and Dan Smith. Argyle then displayed a ruthless streak and killed off the game on the hour-mark thanks to a Dickson penalty and two goals for Malsom. Even though Penryn pulled a goal back from the penalty spot through Steve Rowson, as a result of a debatable handball decision in the 70th minute, Argyle completed the scoring when Malsom struck for the third of his goals in the 74th minute. q q q FA Vase second round Truro City 3 St Blazey 2 A CROWD of almost 900 trooped into Treyew Road for this eagerly-awaited cup-tie that lived up to its billing as the Green and Blacks pushed their highly- talented hosts to the wire. Those that expected to witness a bruising encounter were not to be disappointed as the first booking came after just 40 seconds when Marcus Martin was cautioned for a tackle from behind on former Truro full-back Gregg Butcher. Retribution came less than four minutes later as Mark Vercesi found himself in the referee's book for a tackle on Martin. Truro started strongly, taking a 20th-minute lead after Chris Reski placed his powerful header past Gary Penhaligon from former St Blazey full-back Ian Gosling's precise right-wing cross. Blazey fought back, Mike Body firing just wide of Dan Stevenson's goal, before Truro's prolific goalscorer Stewart Yetton forced a save out of Penhaligon, and then shot over the bar from a good position. The impressive Joe Broad was next to try his luck, bringing a fine save out of Penhaligon with no-one on hand to knock home the rebound. The visitors had the final chance of the half and Body should have done better when he chose to drive the ball along the ground when a lob over the advancing Dan Stevenson, who saved easily, would have been the better option. Blazey fans were celebrating nine minutes after the break when skipper Vercesi beat Stevenson with a low drive into the bottom corner of the goal from the edge of the area. Their joy only lasted six minutes, though, as Gosling's corner was flicked on for Jake Ash to arrive at the far post and crash the ball past Penhaligon. A further 20 minutes of nip-and-tuck followed until Truro struck again on 75 minutes and, ironically, it was a player who was for so many years the idol of Blaise Park. Glynn Hooper was on hand to supply the finishing touch after Ash had made a fine run down the right flank before pulling the ball back into his path. Blazey's response was immediate as Danny Bance thundered the ball past Stevenson before he and Broad were booked for a flare-up in midfield. The booking was more significant for Bance as he picked up a second in stoppage time to make the long walk up the hill to the Treyew Road changing rooms. q q q FA VASE DRAW THE draw for the third round of the FA Vase has taken place, which has seen the remaining Cornish clubs drawn away from the Duchy. Launceston, provided they can beat Street in their replay, have been drawn away to combined Counties Premier League side Chessington and Hook United. Truro City, conquerors of St Blazey, should not be too concerned about a trip to Sydenham's Wessex League side Lymington, although they were knocked out of last season's competition by Christchurch, who play in the same League.