South West Peninsula League
Premier West
St Dennis 0 Bodmin Town 1
St Dennis and Bodmin brought the curtain down on a long season of struggle with an entertaining match on a difficult bobbly playing surface at Boscawen Park on Saturday.
Sam Eccleston’s cultured 62nd minute finish proved enough to secure all three points for the visitors.
Eccleston received a good ball out wide, cut inside and produced a great shot from the edge of the penalty area into the bottom left corner of the net.
But St Dennis’s young side gave as good as they got, especially in the first half, and on another day they might have taken something out of this, their last game.
Sam Tattersall and Ray Spear caused plenty of problems but Nick Salop, at the heart of the Bodmin defence, showed a maturity beyond his years to sweep up most of the pressure.
Sam Cox was the driving force in the Bodmin defence, delivering some of their best moments during the game.
Bodmin manager Simon Minett said: “It was a typical end of season game. We had so many players unavailable and injured that out of 13 defensive players signed on, only two were available.
“So we had to juggle it around and play with players out of position.
“I do feel we controlled large periods of the game and although only scoring one goal we should have had more.”
He added: “I’m really happy with how the season has ended; since I came into the job so much has happened, from players leaving to ground issues, but we still managed to finish one point better off than last season.
“Huge credit needs to go to the players and my back room staff for that. It hasn’t been pretty at times but we have a young side that’s only going to improve and we look to push on next season.”
A word for referee Dave Bartlam, who was a calming influence throughout.
St Dennis: C Hill, Z Best, F Treverton-Allen, N Lang, M Davies, J Basker, S Tattersall (R Allen 77), J Pope, R Spear (F Cole 65), K Goreki, A Butler.
Subs not used: R Hunter, L Carter, P Slamey, R Allen.
Yellow card: N Lang (90 mins).
Bodmin Town: H George, L Taylor, T McLachlan, N Salop, O Miller, S Cox, W Elliott, N Crump, J Munday (J Skillicome 79), S Dover, S Ecceleston.
Subs not used: J Carron, D Peters.
Goal: S Eccleston (62).
Yellow card: N Salop (48).
Referee: Dave Bartlam.
Men of the Match. St Dennis – Nathan Lang; Bodmin – Sam Eccleston.
KJM SPORTS 