Witheridge 0-3 Falmouth Town

[Guest Postie Pidge]

Witheridge: Steve Johns; Daniel Jones (Ross Szabo 86m), Mark Burgess (Stuart Davies 68m), Brendan O’Boyle, Steve Rice, Richard Groom ©, Gary Hunt, Steve Goss, Steve Ebdy, Steve Leftbridge (Sean Szabo 76m), Jonathan Bradford. Subs (unused): Sam Strong & Tom Langford

Falmouth: Nathan Murphy; Jamie Morrison-Hill, Fergus Nevin, Aaron Harper-Penman ©, Brinton Nute, Aaron Cusack, Darren Burchell, Lee Beer, Kain Bond (Glen Squires 72m), Andy Bowker (Chris Wolstencroft 88m), Matt Cusack (Ben Goldring 80m). Sub unused: Steve Sims.

Referee: Wayne Harrison (Bideford)

Assistants: Duncan Underhill ( ? ) and Ryan German (Tiverton)

0-1 28m Andy Bowker

0-2 82m Glen Squires

0-3 91m Darren Burchell

BOOKINGS/DISMISSALS:

None

[hammers]

Pidge,

Well done to Town ,it looks by the team listed that Town had several players not playing,

were they being rested or injuries,

was it a good game,

Hammers :c:

[Mike Odgers]

Just arrived home from a wonderful weekend

Stayed with my daughter/granddaughter in Taunton and had a leisurely drive to Witheridge on the A38,on Saturday noon time

In rolling countryside,Witheridge is West of Tiverton in the heart of Devon with Dartmoor to the South and Exmoor to the North.

The typical village square with Church and Public house alongside is where I had my dinner time refreshment before moving up to the aptly named The Playing Fields to see the SWPL game.

Falmouth on their first visit had four absentees from the midweek win over Bodmin and in blistering heat enjoyed the possession with the ball at feet but with the hard surface the bounce and aerial play gave the Home team a fair chance.

Falmouth were always on the verge of an opening whereas Witheridge were shooting on site picking up deflections and ricochets but the Town backline looked solid all afternoon.

Eventually the deadlock was broken when (my star man) Jamie Morrison Hill overlapped down the dodgy right hand corner slope to deliver the pass for Andy bowker to fire home.

Another goal was wanted to relax the situation but after a bright second half start there came a mid half spell when Town were not coming forward enough. Witheridge had their best chance when a shot from a great position was remarkably blocked by..............(fill it in "Pidge"was it JMH).

A spate of substitutions saw Falmouth finish in the ascendancy and put the scoreline into perspective with Glen Squires controlling and then turning his marker to place the ball low into the corner and in injury time Darren Burchell was fouled and his customary free kick had goal written all over it.He duly obliged as seen on the Falmouth website match report and pics).

With no red/yellow cardsto issue the Bideford referee Wayne Harrison had a comfortable afternoon with his only problem trying to keep the substitutes in their dugouts in the hot conditions.

Mike you counted 16 from Falmouth,did that include former player Wayne Hughes who his working in the area and plays his football now for Exeter Civil Service in the Devon and Exeter League but sheepishly told me he was at present under suspension.

on your report you show a gate figure of 190 is this correct? NO just seen the official gate = 104

[hammers]

Mike,

Top notch report, by it's contents you prooved that you did not over drink in the pub,

& your brain was working at full capacity,

you have told me all that I wanted to hear,

Hammers :c:

[Guest Phil H]

Glad you found Witheridge Mike, with 15 others, that can't be bad.

I won't ask for any compliments on behalf of Witheridge because I knew that as soon as 1 Cornish team had been there it would be plainly obvious that their hosts are well organised, proud of their developing facilities and an ambitious club doing remarkably well to have taken 2 opportunities in 2 seasons to progress upwards.

Just a side note about the bottom corner - When they first applied for the Devon League the pitch was not as long but the FA ground grading criteria meant we ordered them to lengthen the pitch and they had no choice but to use the sloping corner to get the 100 mtrs in. Thats the price of conformity !

Regards

Phil H

[Mike Odgers]

This being my second visit to Witheridge again in sunshine and found it a very disable friendly club.

The tarmac carpark made a easy walk to the ground enclosure where within yards you are outside the clubhouse and ajoining changing rooms.

This area with outside tables and benches is where all the pre match activity takes place ideal for refreshment and banter.

With all the Witheridge clubmen doing their matchday duties I managed to get get hold of the team lineups and ventured into the clubhouse for a pasty and cold drink and saw some of the Sunderland/Liverpool game on one of the two televisions.

With the kick off time approaching I walked around to the pitch (which is out of view from the clubhouse) and the first impression you get is the refreshing greenery of pitch and countryside..A tidy compact grandstand supported either side by the dugouts was made accessible by hard standing path,but with the hot conditions the favourite viewing area was behind the goal in a shelter giving shade.(Is this shelter an addition since last summer-Phil?)

The match day programme was very readable in big print ideal for us who have to revert to reading glasses.

All in all a very friendly progressive club which has competed well with many of the established big spending Town clubs.

One bonus was on the drive back towards Tiverton the only radio reception was Wales and off/on Devon but out of the blue Dave Deacon of Radio Cornwall burst through and I immediately pulled over into a farm gateway to listen for 20 minutes or so.

[Magic Mike]

sounds like an enjoyable trip all round and falmouth came hom,e with 3 points as well!

[Guest Phil H]

Just come back from Witheridge 1 Buckland 1, att 114

The shelter behind the goal was new to me too ! and the stand on the halfway line which was previously only standing has had bench seats added in the summer, the home Secretary also informs me of a new ground name, dropping the "Playing Fields" as naff they have come up with "Edge Down Park" The reason given that until they took a (H)edge down they didn't have a football pitch !

[Paul]

Sounds like a good away day Mike. Shall look forward to my visit with St Blazey later in the season.

[Guest Postie Pidge]

Paul you will have to hang your flags from the netting at the far end

[Mike Odgers]

In todays WM News the Witheridge v Buckland game (played yesterday) report mentioned the new ground name as Edge Down Park.

So were Falmouth Town the last team to play at the named Witheridge Playing Fields last Saturday? although in the match day programme it was a welcome to The Sports Field!

Paul of St.B. You should have a good footballing day with a difference when you visit.

There are two Pubs in the square and talking to the Witheridge boys the standard route is to turn off at Okehampton and then on to Crediton.Not like "Postie"who just to make certain not to get lost, drove up the M5 to Tiverton.

sorry Pidge I couldnt resist.