Torpoint 3 - 1 St Cleer

Scorers: Ferguson x2, Rowe.

Lineup: WestallM, Bartolini, WhiteJ, WhiteS, Quintrell, Cotter, Rowe, Northcott, Blair, WestallC, Ferguson.

Subs: Crump, Payn, Warren, Carter, Robbins.

An electric start for the home side last night, with skipper for the evening WestallC teeing up the returning Ferguson 20yds from goal, who fired a drive into the bottom corner for 1-0 on 3mins. The 2nd goal, after 24mins with Rower scoring his 2nd in 2 games having gone the season up until then on 0, banging one in from all of 1/2 a yard! He did his best to remain on 1 goal and fully leaned back to give me a heart attack, but it stayed under the bar for 2-0. The 3rd came not long after on the half hour mark, with Ferguson again firing low from 18ds after a strong WestallC tackle, breaking to the scorer for his 5th in 5 games. Despite missing lengthy periods of the season through injury, this is just rewards from a forward we know can contribute to picking up results like this.

St Cleer weren't dead and buried quite yet despite the 3-0 deficit,Ben Collins pulled one back before HT. He was found wide and played some neat football with two team mates and the return pass found him inside the box to smash past WestallM in goal to give hope to the visitors. A sweetly struck free kick from Chapman also rattled our crossbar after a WhiteS tackle was deemed a free kick approx 25yds out. A lucky escape for us. 3-1 HT. A thankful score line, with the crossbar being hit when easier to score for the home side, as well as other shots on goal not finding the corners.

A typical rallying call at HT, with an improvement in attitude and application required to match the score line. The back 4 remained resilient and I was impressed with their decision making throughout to nullify any St Cleer threat. It was evident they missed the willingness of Bartlett. Cotter in particular was playing well, and frankly embarrassed a few of his opponents with various ball mastery in the middle of the pitch. Brought down on a number of occasions, one rival did pick up a booking. A rare blow of the whistle, with obvious fouls for both sides missed all night. This led to frustration for both sides, with one St Cleer man given a 10minute cool down late on. The crucial 5th goal never came for either side, with a strong run down the left from Warren met with a good stop by the StC keeper to his left, and a WestallC 1v1 scooped over the keeper, and over the bar onto the top of the net. A Karel Poborsky throwback to those old enough to remember Euro 96! Despite it not going in it was some skill, only topped on the day by Cotter's gangly legs and a double step over by keeper WestallM in the first half when under zero pressure!

A relatively quiet 2nd half finished 0-0 and 3pts to the home side to take us back top of the league. Again, only until Saturday if WestallM's new friends beat St Teath. With St Minver losing last Saturday vs fellow contenders Gunnislake, the title race now becomes a 3 horse race. Was nice to see some of the Gunni boys at The Mill last night cheering us on!

Onto Monday for the League Cup Final vs Foxhole. 15:00ko at St Blazey FC.