Clarets brought back to earth with disappointing home defeat

A GOAL in each half from striker Craig Allen condemned Launceston to defeat as promoted St Mawgan left Pennygillam with a 2-1 success.

The Clarets went into the contest off the back of a derby success at Holsworthy on Wednesday night, but failed to get going in a first half which the village outfit were the better side.

They had a header cleared off the line inside two minutes, and after losing the injured Jack Piper in the 13th minute to be replaced by midfielder Sam West, saw a second effort scrambled away on the goal-line by Ryan Dawe.

Launceston looked dangerous on the flanks using the pace of winger Kaiet Rasche and a half-fit Kian Berry who was struggling with a back problem, but too often they failed to produce a telling ball.

On 17 minutes their first real shot saw midfielder Tom Bullock shoot narrowly wide, but it was mainly St Mawgan in possession with the Clarets looking to counter.

However, the promoted visitors took a deserved lead on 43 minutes as the ball dropped to Allen inside the box whose shot found the corner with the help of a sizeable deflection.

Launceston needed a response after the break and they finally troubled visiting stopper Jordan Cole on 53 minutes as Owen Davies’ ball into the box was met by frontman Lee Robinson, and his half volley had to be acrobatically tipped over. From the resulting ball in, Robinson was again denied, this time with a header which was cleared off the line.

St Mawgan then got a second on the hour as the opportunistic Allen lashed home from just inside the box after an initial shot was superbly blocked by defender Jude Jago.

Launceston made changes either side of the hour which included player/manager Mike Steele coming on for the final 20 minutes, and that co-incided with the Pennygillam outfit enjoying their best spell of the game as tensions threatened to boil over.

However it was St Mawgan who nearly grabbed a third on 74 minutes, but home keeper Howie Evans spread himself to deny Allen from eight yards.

The visitors saw sub Harrie Tilston head against the post from sub Jack Andretti’s brilliant right-wing cross, before home appeals for a penalty were waved away as West appeared to handball George Davey’s cross on 79 minutes.

That was that until injury-time as the half went on for over 55 minutes. Home right-back Sam Tattersall drew a decent save out of Cole from distance, but in the fourth minute of injury-time Robinson tapped in from close-range after a header was saved.

Then came even more drama in the 100th minute as Evans forced the ball over the line from a Steele corner. However, it was ruled out for a foul.

Almost straight away Evans went for an early shower after he was sin-binned for handling the ball outside of the area, but with time up, it was the last act of a close contest.

Steele admitted the Clarets failed to hit the heights of recent performances, saying: “Saturday’s defeat was frustrating, particularly after the standards we’ve set in recent weeks.

“We started slowly and didn’t make the most of our early chances. We’ve played at a high intensity every three or four days and have yet to have a training session together to run through a few bits that are key to how we want to play, so hopefully after Tuesday night’s game against Torpoint in the Cornwall Senior Cup, we can put some focus into that.”

He continued: “There were a few positives, especially in the final 20 minutes when we moved the ball and created a couple of opportunities, but although we scored late on and had another ruled out, ultimately we left ourselves with too much to do.

“We know not to get too high on the wins and too low on the losses, so we’ll learn from it, regroup and look to bounce back.”

LAUNCESTON: Howie Evans; Sam Tattersall, Alex Parnell, Jude Jago, Ryan Dawe; Tom Bullock, Harry Eaton, Owen Davies; Kaiet Rasche, Lee Robinson (capt), Kian Berry. Subs: George Davies, Mike Steele, Dylan Rangecroft, Jack Stephens, Taylor Davey.

Clarets’ man-of-the-match: Sam Tattersall.