Gerrans............................................1
St Cleer............................................5
SAINTS long away trek to Gerrens proved fruitful, after a fine performance bought them all three points on a day when the weather once again took it's toll on the majority of Duchy League fixtures.
On a pitch that is considered 'massive' by visiting teams, but was in prime condition for playing good football, the wind played havoc with anything above knee height, but on the day it was the visitors who adapted best. With Saints playing with the wind in the first half, they soon encamped in Gerrens half causing all sorts of problems for the home defence with a very direct approach going close within the first five minutes.
They did not have to wait long however with Andrew gaining space on the right and hitting a shot across the face of the goal into the right hand corner from some 30 yards out, to put Saints up after only eight minutes, this was followed shortly when good work on the left resulted in a cross by Gubbin into the box controlled by Collins who created time and space to slot home for the second. The third came when a melee in the box resulted in Truckle forcing the ball home from close in.
Although Gerrens tried to get the ball out of their own half, a combination of the windy conditions and St Cleer's hard work, kept them pinned in. The next time the ball ended up in the net, was as a result of a clearance by Hockin out of the Saints defence, which he followed through beating the Gerrens defence and the keeper to the ball before prodding home, but the goal was disallowed when the referee decreed that Hockin's foot had been slightly high when pushing the ball passed the keeper. (Pete hadn't run that far for ages and it took him up to the middle of the second half to get over the exertion).
On the half hour Saints fourth came when Gubbin battles in the box and the ball came loose for Collins in slot home for his second. Robert in the away goal had only touched the ball twice by this time, both as a result of back passes, but he could do nothing when Gerrens finally got away from the tight visitors defence to draw the keeper and drive the ball home with eight minutes to go to the break.
Four-one up at the break, Saints then faced the same prospects as the home team had in the first half, but the second half produced one of the best displays by the St Cleer squad this season, playing with a lot of discipline and control to thwart the attempts of the home team to regain the balance of play they had lost in the first forty-five minutes and take advantage of the blustery conditions.
Saints took the steam out of the home attack with Roberts proving his mettle in the visitors goal with some excellent saves. Andrew, Woolfe, Hall, Hockin and Wall at the back proved too tough for Gerrens to breakdown and Gubbin, Taylor and Truckle battled hard in midfield with Collings falling back to assist. Colefax was often up front alone to hold the ball until supported by the rest of his hard working colleagues.
With second half substitutions of Thorp coming on for Woolfe, Moon making his debut in place of Colefax and Scott replacing Truckle, each member of the squad contributed towards a good away win, which was stitched up with two minutes to go when a free kick on the edge of the box was touch off by Collins to Taylor whose shot from the edge of the box found the bottom corner to seal the points for St Cleer.
Division Two
Luck deserts Saints
Godolphin....................................0
St Cleer.........................................0
DESPITE the appalling weather, the visitors to Godolphin last Saturday were pleasantly surprised by the state of the pitch, which had obviously escaped the main ravages of the elements and contributed to a good match between two teams both riding high in Division Two after their promotion at the end of the previous season.
St Cleer started strongly pushing Godolphin back and creating several half chances, with which were dealt with by the home defence, with the visitors defence of Andrew, Shepherd, Taylor, Hill and Wall, also holding well. Godolphin gradually got back into the game and half time came with both teams nullifying each other. The home team were denied a half time lead when their best chance of the half saw Duffey in the visitors goal make two outstanding point blank saves right on the point of half time.
The second half remained in the same vein as the first although it was the home team who applied the pressure in the first quarter of an hour without really troubling the Saints defence. As the game wore on, the visitors came more and more in to it, with the midfield of Gubbin, Foster and Perrett with Collins and Colefax working hard up front, they were unlucky not to grab all the points when in the last quarter first Perrett found himself clear on the left after good work on the right and saw his shot pass agonising on the wrong side of the post and near the end a bullet cross from Gubbin whisked past Collins forehead and away to safety. With Thorp making his debut and Woolfe entering the fray in the second half, Saints kept their passing game together throughout the match and finished the stronger.
Although a draw can be seen as a good result for both sides, the visitors can feel a little hard done by having had the majority of the play, and with a little bit of luck in front of the goal could have taken all three points.
Division One
Tough battle
Polperro......................................1
St Minver......................................1
ON a very heavy pitch and with a near gale force wind blowing this clash between two teams well placed towards the top of the league always looked on paper to be a tough fixture. So it proved with both teams battling it out from the very first whistle.
With Polperro playing up the slope and kicking into a fierce wind the early advantage should have been with the visitors but Polperro showed first with two early chances that were well saved. It was not long, however, before St Minver pressed forward but they were unable to penetrate a solid and resolute Polperro defence until a rather harsh penalty decision gave the visitors and opportunity to open their account, which they missed. Spurred on by this Polperro drove forward and although creating chances failed to find the back of the net and half time was reached with a nil-nil scoreline.
With the wind at their backs in the second half Polperro laid siege on the visitors goal and were rewarded after only five minutes when a superbly flighted cross from Martin Hamlet was headed home by striker Aaron Spry. St Minver's reply to this was to go straight onto the offensive and the home side were thankful to goalkeeper Barry Collings for pulling off two fine saves to keep the score at one-nil. With both teams working hard this was certainly not a game for the faint-hearted, with strong challenges taking place in every quarter of the pitch.
In a match of few clear chances it looked as if Polperro would hold onto their slender lead until with only five minutes to go a St Minver forward received the ball in what appeared to be an off-side position but he was allowed to go on and score the equaliser, much to the amazement of not only the Polperro defence but also the linesman who had clearly raised his flag. The referee allowed the goal to stand and it was probably a just decision to two teams who had given everything in a hard fought but entertaining game played in very difficult conditions to leave the field sharing a one-one scoreline.
Man of the Match was Chris Jackman (Polperro).
Duchy League Results - Premier Div: Boscastle 1 v St Columb Minor 2; Delabole 2 v Newmoor 1. Division I: Polperro 1 v St Minver 1. Division II: Gerrans 1 v St Cleer 5; Godolphin 2; Altarnun 1; Pelynt 2 v RAF; St Mawgan 7. Division III: Tregony 7 v St Breward 0. Division IV West: Nanstallon 0 v St Merryn 2; St Mawgan 0 v Veryan 0.