ECPL FIXTURES FOR SATURDAY 16th and Wednesday 20th April

[ECPL]

Foxhole 2 Altarnun 2

Newquay Academy 0 St Teath 3

Roche 1 Gunnislake 2

St Cleer 2 St Stephen 0

Torpoint Athletic 3 St Minver 0

 

Wednesday

 

Torpoint Athletic 5 Looe Town 2 7.30pm ko

[LaLaL]

The remaining fixtures make it seem like a 4 horse race for the title. Can’t be many other leagues that look this interesting at this point of the season

[Darin Morse]

Saturday 16th April (ECPL)

Foxhole welcome league leaders Altarnun to the Goverseth Recreation Ground (PL26 7XD). The unbeaten visitors are having an excellent season and are sure to be strong opposition to Seth Couch's men. The match kicks off at 2.30pm; admission is £3, seniors £2, children watch for free. The clubhouse opens at 12.30pm dinnertime and will be showing the Liverpool / Man City game live. 

[A.Brown85]

Ft

roche 1

gunnislake 2

[St George]

24 minutes ago, A.Brown85 said:

Ft

roche 1

gunnislake 2

Guess St Dennis SWPL must have played yesterday and not today 😉😮😉😮

[Taxman]

What’s that got to do with Roche v Gunnislake

[Byron10]

Superb result for torpoint today at home (horsen) against St minver. A squad that good should be winning leagues and cups, puts them right back in it. really entertaining end of season run-in… 

[A.Brown85]

2 hours ago, St George said:

Guess St Dennis SWPL must have played yesterday and not today 😉😮😉😮

It looked like their normal side that we played earlier on in the season?! 

[MCB]

No it wasn't the same side . 2 playing cricket and 3 normal starters away. Gk playing his 4 th game in 4 years.  If you don't know the facts don't talk .  And we played the second half with 10 players 

[Foul Throw 3]

Torpoint 3 - 0 St Minver

Scorers: Easterbrook2, WestallC. 

Lineup: WestallM, Bartolini, WhiteJ, WhiteS, Hussey, Cotter, Rowe, Northcott, Blair, WestallC, Easterbrook.

Subs: Warren. Unused: Charman, Quintrell.
 

A hugely important fixture for both sides in the league table, with 4th vs 2nd prior to kick off, but only 4 points separating the top 4. You could feel the nerves in the warm up, mainly my own, but I could sense the importance was felt by all the lads, and a feeling of doubt in the Minver camp.

But the away side started brightly, with Callum Wilson through in goal in the opening moments only for the chance to be squandered. A bit of a wake up call, but the opening 30mins was lacking in quality all over. Up to the half hour mark the man of the match was Horson's bobble and frustrations began to bubble, particularly with the home side. Possession was given away, touches poor & passes adrift for both sides on a hard surface, but eventually a Negative Nancy beared fruit. A loose ball in the right back area of Torpoint's defence was raced onto by WhiteJ who spun a pass down the channel into WestallC's run. Wide on the right and 35yds from goal he drove inside, with the Minver defender backtracking rather than engaging, found himself square on inside the box, a silly mistake, when WestallC twisted him in and out, and in again onto his left to bend inside low into the corner for 1-0. 

Up to this point I don't think either side deserved the lead, but the goal woke the home side into action and from then on we found some confidence. Some neat play found Easterbrook inside the box about to drive at goal, but the bobble said no. The ball pooped up to knee height before the shot was fired off and the chance went begging unfortunately. Next in line was a pinpoint diag from Hussey into the box, which the Minver no.2 completely misread, found WestallC with 2yds of space to chest into the air and hit a stinging volley at goal on the spin with the left back not close enough. A good save by Hurst in goal at comfortable height, but the technique deserved a goal. Not too dissimilar to what I witnessed at The Mill yesterday with Ryan Richards' overhead vs Elburton. HT 1-0.

Bit of a realistic approach to HT. A poor opening 30mins for both sides but one moment of quality sparked us into action. Would only have taken our visitors a similar opportunity to turn the game on it's head. So an eye opener for some that despite the lead, we were better than what we had shown, and a reminder at what was at stake.

The 2nd half began with a bit more confidence than the first, with the midfield showing better quality, and a little less nerves all over. But the first real opening fell to the Minver no.8 again, the same as the first half. A sure goal was thwarted inside 10yds with a last ditch tackle from WhiteS as I clenched my teeth envisioning an equaliser or a penalty. But no! A massive block denied Minver's Wilson and the ball was cleared. The missed opportunity again rejuvenated Torpoint but dampened Minver's spirits. With them now carrying a few knocks their changes lacked the umph and no.17 in particular gave away possession or free kicks at will. Though 1-0 is too close a scoreline I felt unnerved by this point. Our 2nd was coming, when WestallC found Easterbrook to increase the gap. 5mins later it was 3-0 with Matt Modric Cotter with his 2nd outside of the boot assist in recent games finding Easterbrook to head in a simple finish close to the goal. No Minver defender within yds of him thankfully. Easterbrook was unfortunate to not complete a hat trick in the 2nd half, with a familiar dribble inside the box and low drive very well saved from a sore Hurst in the Minver goal. 

From 3-0 the game petered out, with Minver out of steam and a mature 15mins from Torpoint doing the basics correctly. The confidence of being close to an 8th victory in a row. The win takes us up to 3rd, but a win on Wednesday vs Looe would take us top, having played 1 more than Altarnun. The league is in the home straight now, but no one is counting their chickens yet. A tough run in for all involved and no one willing to bend over for 3 points. An interesting few weeks ahead!

[Foul Throw 3]

Torpoint 5 - 2 Looe Town

Scorers: WestallC2, Hussey, Rowe, WhiteJ. 

Lineup: WestallM, Bartolini, WhiteJ, WhiteS, Hussey, Cotter, Rowe, Northcott, Blair, WestallC, Warren.

Subs: Crump, Quintrell, Charman, Brown.

A poor performance in the first half, disappointing considering the run we've been on. Lucky to be 3-1 up at HT, with a much improved 2nd half to run out 5-2 winners. At this stage of the season, the most important thing is picking up the 3pts, so I'll take it. Top of the league, at least until 16:30 on Saturday when the other 4 sides in the top 5 clash and us without a fixture until next Wednesday.

The game didn't have much worth writing about in the opening half an hour. A lack of quality all over the pitch from Torpoint coupled with poor decision making saw our frustrations grow. To Looe's credit they were partially responsible for this too, and their energy and endeavour pushed us into the rocky opening spell. 

Torpoint didn't really create any openings until 20mins onwards, with WestallC and Northcott driving fierce efforts from distance wide of the goal. Rowe had half a chance to bag the game's opener but it wasn't to be, on this occasion. Half an hour played this buoyed us a little, and a WestallC cut back to Rowe was fired inside the far post for his long overdue first of the season. Only moments later though, Looe fought back with the best goal I've seen all season with a screamer. The ball bounced up 30yds from goal at just the height you want to smash top bins only to see it disappear into orbit. But not Barny Stephenson, and he duly obliged by burning a hole into the top corner of the net with no keeper in Cornwall saving it for the equaliser.

This did wake us up a little and we began to probe a little more. A few set pieces for Torpoint resulted in Looe having to defend and a very deep free kick crossed in by WhiteS was headed narrowly wide by WestallC. The skipper was then played through for his first 1v1 test of one of the centre halves. Initially standing him up, he pushed the ball past the flat footed defender and was in on goal to the left, only to be brought down. The official was well placed to make the easy decision, which Hussey despatched for his 7th spot kick of the season. Two minutes later another corner was header pinball and WhiteJ got the final most important connection to put us 3-1 up for HT.

A thankful score line, a critical HT team talk and two changes at the break stirred the home side into action, and were far better for the remainder of the game. The 4th goal was produced with good work by Adam Blair down the right who nudged the ball back to WestallC to fire into the net. Then 15mins later a superb cross from Hussey on the left was volleyed into the net for Westall's 22nd of the season and into a 5-1 lead. The no.9 would've been happy to extend our lead and a number of chances fell his way in the 2nd half from better play. Looe pulled one back moments after our 5th with a shambles at the back for us and a disappointing 2 goals against, given the league stats. 

Complacency possibly an issue playing against the team bottom of the league, but I was pleased with the HT reaction from the lads. The returning Quintrell and debutant Noah Crump in particular installed some composure and quality on the ball coming from the bench, with minutes shared among everyone else. Unusual for us to use the roll on/off but we did last night to keep lads fresh and it didn't disrupt our rhythm too much. 

No game for us on Saturday where we hope St Minver, Foxhole, Altarnun and Gunni all draw against each other. Probably get 11/1 odds on that so it's unlikely, but they can't all pick up 3pts in this tight 4 horse race for the league title.