Camelford 1 v 2 Newquay AFC

[Guest The Judge aka RED OR DEAD]

Newquay made the trip to the Northern most edge of Bodmin Moor looking to close the gap on those in the top 5 of Div 1 West. In a cold but sunny ground, a sparse crowd of less than 50, half of whom travelled from Mount Wise witnessed The Peppermints huff and puff their way to 3 more valuable points.

Newquay bossed the early exchanges and on 8 mins, a Scott Palmer (who else) free kick from 22 yards took a slight deflection before flying into the top left hand corner, leaving the keeper stranded. A midfield battle ensued with neither side really getting a hold of the game. Camelford tested keeper Symon Winnan twice, but the big man was equal to both efforts, turning the shots over the bar, making sure that his goal remained intact. Ash Bradshaw, Luke Rigby and Jake Hartigan all had some joy breaking down the left but the final ball into the box always eluded the front two by way of some good defensive work. HT 0-1.

The 2nd half started with The Peppermints taking control of the game, Azzer delivered cross after cross into the box but the home defence were resiliant and cleared the majority of them, this only led to the Newquay midfield pairing of Paul Hampshire and Shaun Middleton to send the ball straight back at them and keep the pressure up. on 65 mins Luke Rigby attacked down the right and cut inside to worry the home defence, after a melee on the edge of the box, the ball broke free to Jake Hartigan, who cooly took a step to the left and curled a superb shot over the keeper into the top left corner.

Newquay were now cruising and manager Jim Hilton rang the changes to give the 3 young subs a run out. However, Camelford piled on the pressure in the last 15 mins and were awarded a penalty after the Ref stunned everyone in the ground by deeming that Ash bradshaw had fouled an attacker when it was obvious that he had cleared the ball some 30 yards away from the 18 yard box and not touched the Camelford player. Winno had to pick the ball out of the net after the penalty, thats 2 penalties in the 2 matches he has taken part in since his welcome return to The Peppermints, no goals from open play shows that the defence marshalled by CJ and Macca, are more than comfortable in dealing with anything the opposition throw at them. The match ended with Newquay attacking and the travelling fans applauded more for the 3 points than the performance, still a win is a win and we travelled back down the Atlantic Highway happy.

The Camelford set up is a nice one, although a little out of the way, nice little seated stand (taken over by the travelling fans) and a covered terraced stand are no doubt welcomed on wet and windy days. Floodlights would be a welcome addition and perhaps a bar for matchdays (I doubt the local farmers would use it on a regular basis to make a permanent one viable) after match facilities are provided by the Conservative club a mile away in town. No 50/50 draw or raffle could mean a loss of potential revenue, which all clubs need to survive.

Next up for The Peppermints, Boxing day, High Noon v Pub Team at Mount Wise followed by the much anticipated trip to Porthleven on Sat 3rd Jan.