Falmouth Town 1. Tavistock 0.

[The Town Man]

Falmouth Town 1:  Tavistock 0.

 

Bradley Leivers

 

Att: 505.

 

Falmouth Town opened their account in this history-making tie at a packed Bickland Park on Tuesday evening with a narrow and hard-fought victory against Tavistock AFC.

This was Town’s first ever fixture in the Pitching In Southern League Division 1 South.  The highest level the club has played at. Ultimately, Falmouth did not disappoint with a steadfast defensive display punctuated by some outstanding attacking moves and a well-worked set-piece goal when the opportunity arose.

 

Falmouth went with the same team that started the FA Cup victory against Torpoint Athletic, and also welcomed back Rubin Wilson who took a place on the bench.  Cam Hutchison playing in an advanced role behind Oscar Massey and a back three of Harrison Jewell, James Ward and Tom Annear.

Tavistock, who are now a well-established team at Southern League level, started with the prolific Liam Prynn up-front, who works and lives locally to Falmouth.

 

The first ten minutes of the game was fairly even as the teams sounded each other out, but after that Tavistock started to dominate possession and territory, forcing a series of corners which were dealt with well by the Town defence and keeper Morgan Coxhead.  However, Falmouth did still look dangerous when they could get the ball up to Oscar Massey, whose pace was unsettling the Tavistock defence.

 

Right on the stroke of half-time, possession was handed to Tavistock just inside the Falmouth half after a mis-placed pass. Tavistock drove down the left-hand side and had a man over with their left-back in an advanced position. He was played in only to see his shot blocked by the Falmouth defence.  Into stoppage time and Tavistock broke forward again, this time through the middle. A deft through ball found a Tavistock player but Coxhead dived at his feet to stop a certain goal and the half finished at 0-0.

 

Tavistock again started the 2^nd half brightly and a ball over the top looked to have found Prynn, only for Coxhead to come out again to challenge Prynn and shut down the danger.  This seemed to spur Falmouth on and they entered their best period of the game.  They started to find the dangerous Luke Barner down the right who ran at the visitor’s left back and put some dangerous crosses into the box.

 

In the 4^th minute, Falmouth won their first corner. Tom Annear took it from the right-hand side and found Ward on the back post.  He headed the ball back across the face of the goal and a failed clearance fell to Bradley Leivers just inside the 6-yard box who bundled the ball home to make it one-nil to Falmouth in front of a Jubilant Packet End.

 

Falmouth continued to threaten the Tavistock goal but the visitors slowly began to get back into the game, particularly having made a couple of substitutions at the 10-minute mark. The changes seemed to up the tempo of their play and Falmouth were forced to start to defend a little deeper as their possession was reduced.

Falmouth’s recent home defensive record has been exemplary having only conceded 4 goals in the last 14 competitive games, and their qualities were much needed as Tavistock started to really dominate with Prynn’s pace and strength coming to the fore and the two pacy wide men getting crosses in and forcing yet more corners. Man of the Match Morgan Coxhead was equal to everything though as, ably assisted by his defence, Tavistock were thwarted time and again.

 

Ironically though, the best save of the game was made by Aaron Dearing in the Tavistock goal.  In a rare Falmouth attack on 30 minutes, Massey was fouled 10 yards outside the area and up stepped Barner with a powerful shot that was placed high to the right of Dearing. He leapt acrobatically to turn the ball around the post to keep the score at 1-0.

 

It was a nervous last 15 minutes for the Falmouth management and supporters as Tavistock mounted wave after wave of attacks, but it was all to no avail as Falmouth held out to secure a momentous first three points in the Southern league.  As is their tradition, they were soon marching to the Packet End to salute the delighted F-Troop whose support was unwavering all evening.

 

Falmouth continue their FA Cup journey on Saturday with an away trip to one of last season’s foes Barnstaple Town, who beat Helston Athletic 2-0 after a replay at Helston last week.  The following Saturday sees Town host Willand Rovers in their 2^nd Southern League tie and they will be hoping for more of the same support for that one as they look to establish themselves at this level.

 

Falmouth Town: Morgan Coxhead, Harrison Jewell, Tom Annear, James Ward ©, Bradley Leivers, Luke Barner, Andreas Calleja-Stayne, Jack Webber, Jared Sims, Cam Hutchison, Oscar Massey.  Subs: Rubin Wilson, Max Everall, Charlie Edney, Andy Elcock, Luke Brabyn.

 

Tavistock:  Arron Dearing, Jack Matthews, Jack Endacott, Joe Alman, Ben Steer, Ruben Kane, Iestyn Harris, Ed Harrison ©, Liam Prynn, Josh Bernard, Ben Fowles.  Subs: Tom Stone, Charlie Elkington, Tallan Burns, Brooklyn Wilkins, Jacob Bowker.

 

Ref:  Josh Eyre.