Reserve Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg

[Pidgeon]

St Columb Reserves 3 - 1 St Mawgan Reserves

St Mawgan can feel a tad unlucky to not be involved in the cup final after a controversial game at the Rec.

Mawgan dominated exchanges in the first half and deservedly took the lead after Dan Ball assaulted a St Mawgan striker with a reckless elbow to the face after he was sidestepped in the box. Darren Allum converted the resulting penalty but suprisingly Dan Ball's vicious elbow went unpunished.

However, St Mawgan couldn't get an extra goal their dominance deserved early on.

Major stepped it up for the last ten minutes of the half with Dean Dingle the main threat for Major.

St Columb equalised after captain Simon Mitchell went down easier than Elton John under some slight contact on 35 mins in the box. The anonymous Luke Worrall converted the Penalty to make it 1-1. HT

St Mawgan struggled to get involved in the second half which Major dominated. The home side took the lead through centre back Craig Hayes who calmly slotted home from the edge of a crowded box to make it 2-1. Mawgan almost equalised after Paul Blackie put an inch perfect cross into the box for it to be headed painfully wide.

Major soon put the game to bed when an inviting goal bound corner was flicked into the roof of the net by a St Mawgan defender.

Mawgan pressed to get back into the game but never really looked like scoring and unfortunately ran out of steam.

Good luck to St Columb in the final.

[Michael Rabone]

Major Reserves 3 - 1 St. Mawgan Reserves (5-2 on aggregate)

Major's fourth win of the season over their local rivals was enough to take Nigel Worrall's team into the reserve team cup final at the first attempt on their return to Duchy football.

The first half revolved around two relatively straight forward spot kicks after the hosts had made a spirited start to the game to take a deserved lead. Major didn't open the game in particularly convincing fashion and despite the hard work of the St. Columb committee and players, the heavy pitch certainly made matters more challenging for both sides.

Yet it was St. Mawgan who enjoyed more of the possession as Major laboured through the opening quarter and a brief counter attack resulted in Dan Ball being turned in the box with the Major defender opting to block off his opponent for a clear cut penalty that was duly dispatched to Eliot Clarke's right to equal the tie at two goals apiece. This should have been a wake up call for St. Columb yet the response wasn't quite what the home side would have wanted and it took central defensive pair Dan Ball and Craig Hayes to link up to create the best opening for the home side on the half-hour mark.

The first half was littered with offside decisions as both sides struggled to hold their attacking line despite large amounts of space forming behind both defences and it was another spot kick that allowed the hosts back into the game as Simon Mitchell found himself on the end of a clumsy challenge in the box. Mitchell passed the ball to Luke Worrall who confidently stepped up to strike a rising spot kick high into the net to give the home side the overall advantage. Major finally started to up their game and took their slender lead into the half-time break as St. Mawgan's tempo started to drop.

Early parts of the second half offered the same as St. Mawgan sought out opportunity to get themselves back into the tie - it was clear that the narrow margins were creating pressure for both sides as the quality of football deteriorated. Yet the most pivotal moment of the game and possibly the tie occurred early in the second half as St. Mawgan striker Luke Haynes found himself on the receiving end of an inviting cross as he rose unchallenged from six yards to somehow head wide of the target with Clarke watching on. It was clear that the visitors were at risk of paying for such profligacy and there was an air of inevitability that pressure from the home side would result in a game changing blow for St. Mawgan as Major defender Craig Hayes calmly collected the loose ball following a goalmouth scramble to steer home a low strike into the bottom corner of the net from fifteen yards to put some distance between the sides.

It was clear that the tie was far from over as referee Osborne adjudged Major defender John Middleditch to have handled right on the edge of the area and Eliot Clarke was on hand to make the save of the match to deny a beautifully struck free-kick that looked destined for the top corner. Major were successfully able to soak up pressure from the visitors and the tie was all but secured when an in-swinging corner was flicked into the net by a St. Mawgan defender to give Major a three goal cushion.

The game petered out and the referee's whistle prompted celebrations from the home side as they await feedback from the forthcoming semi-final between North Petherwin and Mevagissey.

Man of the match - Craig Hayes

[Pidgeon]

Apologies Nige. Didn't mean to offend you. I just don't understand how any manager would allow any player to talk to them like that and keep him on the field.

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