Bodmin’s first team are well established as a trophy-winning outfit – but now their reserves have started to collect silverware of their own.
Their resurgence in form since the turn of the year was underlined on Easter Sunday when they fought back to beat premier division hot shots Torpoint at a soggy Blaise Park, St Blazey.
Bodmin went into half-time trailing 1-0 after conceding an own goal five minutes before the break and hot favourites Torpoint thought they had doubled their lead in the 51st minute when substitute Rory Simmons tapped in from close range.
But referee Steve Nute ruled out the effort for offside and it proved to be the big turning point in the final.
Four minutes later Bodmin were level with a Connor Mewton goal and the match became an end to end affair in difficult, heavy conditions.
But it was settled in the 65th minute when Mewton took responsibility for a direct free kick 25 yards out and fired the ball past Torpoint goalkeeper Rob Brown into the far corner of the net.
Bodmin skipper, goalkeeper Matt Bullen, received the trophy from sponsor Glyn Rowett to spark wild celebrations among the Bodmin squad.
And 24 hours later the first team made it an Easter double by beating Godolphin Atlantic 7-0 in the Cornwall Senior Cup final at Truro.
Bodmin: Matt Bullen (capt), Tom Crowe, Leighton Carhart, Simon Harper, Scott Laughton, Ryan Butler, Chris Brown, Daryl Stiff, Connor Mewton, Dan Jennings, Connor Dymond. Subs: Sam Gerken, Shane Hearn, Lewis Knowlden, Matt Doney, Dan Marshall.
Bodmin are due to return to league action on Wednesday evening in a local derby against Wadebridge Town at Priory Park (7.30).
Pictures courtesy of Dave Deacon and Cornish Soccer.
Bodmin Town players celebrate as skipper Tom Chambers lifts the Cornwall Senior Cup after the 7-0 victory over Godolphin Atlantic at Treyew Road.
CORNWALL SENIOR CUP FINAL:
At Treyew Road, Truro.
Bodmin Town 7 Godolphin Atlantic 0
TOP scorer Andrew Neal chose the right time to rediscover his finishing touch as his 16-minute second half hat trick helped Bodmin to a record margin of victory in a Cornwall Senior Cup final.
The previous best was Falmouth Town’s 6-1 victory over St Blazey in 1962.
Against a Godolphin side missing the influential Lowry brothers, Jamie and Phil, as well as several other first team regulars, Bodmin had already established a three-goal half-time lead before what turned into a Rocky Horror Show for the men from Newquay started.
Neal, nicknamed Rocky, finished off a mazy run with a sweet left foot shot to score his first goal after 52 minutes and then got the final touch to an inswinging Lee Bevan free kick in the 61st minute to make it 5-0.
But he saved his best for last as his 68th minute run caught Godolphin’s defence on the halfway line and, spotting Shaun Semmens off his line, produced a stunning lob from 35 yards which curled over the keeper but just under the bar for a spectacular goal.
Neal’s regular partner in scoring crime, Adam Carter, was ruled out of the starting XI because of a calf strain, but he came on for the last 25 minutes and got himself a goal from the penalty spot 11 minutes from time after Semmens had brought down Neal.
Neal was the deserved recipient of the man of the match award – this was his tenth hat trick since joining the club in September – but significantly, it was Bodmin’s best team performance for many weeks, even taking into account a weakened Godolphin team.
While they have continued to win games, Bodmin have been unable to put together a 90-minue performance. But when it really mattered, they did.
In blustery, cold and occasionally wet conditions, Bodmin started strongly and it took a brilliant save from Semmens to keep out a piledriver of a left foot shot from left back Shane Jewell in the sixth minute.
The next time Jewell got into a dangerous position, however, he didn’t give the keeper the chance to get his hand to the ball, as he lashed a stunning left foot volley into the top corner with Semmens grabbing at fresh air in the 20th minute.
To their credit, Godolphin hit back and it took a marvellous one-handed save by Kevin Miller to deny Ollie Pinnell’s powerful header providing an equaliser in the 28th minute.
That turned out to be a significant moment because two minutes later Bodmin doubled their lead with another finish out of the top drawer. Steve Bowker, one of the under-rated workhorses of this Bodmin side – lashed home an unstoppable right foot volley from the edge of the box.
Five minutes later Bowker was in the right place to finish off from ten yards after brilliant work by Neal, who saw his shot blocked by Semmens but reacted quickly to get the ball back and lay it into his strike partner’s path.
Semmens was then very fortunate to stay on the pitch in the 40th minute after grabbing hold of, and keeping hold of, the long hair of midfield man River Allen.
It was clearly a red card offence but referee Tim Burley, who later in the game handed out several yellow cards for virtually nothing, decided a caution was enough punishment, while also showing Allen a yellow for his initial late challenge on Semmens.
The unsavoury incident brought to an end a hugely disappointing half for Godolphin, who were simply swept aside in the second half without creating a chance of their own.
You couldn’t fault their players for effort in difficult conditions – they gave it their all, as Godolphin teams do – but on this occasion it was nowhere near enough.
For Bodmin, this was their fifth Senior Cup triumph in seven years, with the prospect of more trophies to come before this season is out.
They are already through to the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League Walter C Parson Cup final – against either Godolphin or St Austell – while they have the edge over St Austell in an exciting race for the premier division title.
On this sort of form, they will take some stopping from completing a remarkable treble.
ON a glorious Good Friday morning, there was hardly enough time to take in the beauty of the surroundings at Camelford’s Trefrew Park ground before Bodmin had this game and the three points wrapped up.
Nick Hurst’s fifth minute opener – Bodmin’s 100th league goal of the season – was followed by Andrew Neal making it 2-0 two minutes later and when Hurst converted a 17th minute chance, Bodmin had all but clinched their 21st win out of 25 games in the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League premier division.
Neal added his second goal and Bodmin’s fourth 13 minutes from time to underline the visitors’ dominance of an entertaining match.
Camelford’s best chance was a 27th minute penalty, but the normally-reliable Mark Gusterson produced a poor spot kick which Kevin Miller saved low to his left.
So, having been briefly knocked off top spot following St Austell’s 4-0 win over St Blazey on Thursday night, Darren Gilbert’s men were back at the helm, level on points with the Lillywhites but having two games in hand and a far superior goal difference.
The only setbacks for Bodmin, with Monday’s Cornwall Senior Cup final against Godolphin Atlantic in mind, were injuries to Lewis Tasker, who had to limp off with a hamstring strain in the 20th minute, and to two-goal Hurst, who suffered a back injury just before half-time and didn’t return for the second half.
While Hurst should be okay for the final, Tasker is almost certainly out while key striker Adam Carter, who missed today’s game with a calf strain, is struggling to make the starting line-up for the showpiece.
But Carter’s replacement in the game at Camelford, Steve Bowker, himself only recently back after a long injury lay-off, worked his socks off and was a constant menace to the home defence despite failing to find the net.
Bodmin also have strength in depth – they included new signings Jack Podmore and Luke Alden (from Willand) in the side and Sam Matthews, Lee Bevan, River Allen and Shane Jewell on the bench. So they should still have several options when it comes to manager Gilbert picking Monday’s team.
What Gilbert will have been pleased about from this game was the overall performance, which was much better than recent games where results have been achieved despite the team struggling to find top gear. Hard work has got them through an indifferent spell of form.
What looked on the face of it to be an awkward local derby for St Austell turned into a walk in the Poltair Park as Phil Lafferty’s men went to the top of the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League premier division tonight.
Josh Grant helped himself to two goals, with his strike partner Liam Eddy and left back Martin Watts adding the others, as bottom of the table St Blazey, much improved since Alan Carey took over as manager in January, misfiring on the big occasion.
This fixture marked the start of the Easter ground hop in Cornwall, with supporters from all over the country and beyond descending on the county to watch seven Peninsula League games in three days.
Their presence boosted the attendance to an impressive 451 – the second highest in the premier division this season – on what was a wet and miserable evening where it would have been easier to stay in the warm and dry at home.
It wasn’t a classic contest by any means, mainly because St Austell never looked in trouble after Grant had swept them into a fourth minute lead.
The Lillywhites usually come out of the blocks stronger than their opponents and tonight was no exception. They might have had one or two more goals to add to the Grant strike before Liam Eddy doubled their lead 12 minutes before half-time, with Grant this time turning provider.
St Blazey needed a quick goal immediately after the break to get back into the game but Grant’s second goal from a superb Harry Evans cross in the 59th minute virtually secured St Austell’s 22nd win in 27 league games.
The icing on the cake came in time added on as Watts got on the end of another cross from the impressive Evans to make it 4-0.
Blazey remain bottom of the table but they are certainly more competitive than they were before Christmas and they won’t face much stronger opponents than St Austell for the remainder of the campaign.
At the other end of the table, the two-horse championship race goes on.
The Lillywhites may have played three more games than title rivals Bodmin Town, and lead by only three points, but the reigning champions continue to keep the pressure on Darren Gilbert’s unbeaten side to keep winning.
They will try to do just that at Camelford tomorrow morning (11 am), only three days before they face Godolphin Atlantic in the Cornwall Senior Cup final at Truro’s Treyew Road (2pm).
St Blazey: Lugg, Casley, Josh Sims, Thackery, Carhart, Eselegyhe, Bello, Cooper, O’Hagan, Jared Sims, Carey.
Meanwhile the ground hoppers move on. Tomorrow they have two division one west games, starting at Illogan RBL v Penryn Athletic (11 am) before moving on to Wendron for their game against Porthleven (3pm).
Their Good Friday will be rounded off by watching the premier division clash between Helston Athletic and Falmouth Town (7pm).
After one or two well-earned shandies, the hoppers complete their Cornwall stay on Saturday with three division one west matches. They will be at Sticker’s game against Wadebridge Town (10.30am); they then take in St Dennis v Millbrook (1.15) before their longest in-county trip to watch Bude play Holsworthy (4.45).
There’s only one thing which is consistent about Bodmin at the moment. They just keep winning.
Tonight the premier division leaders made it through to the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League’s Walter C Parson Funeral Directors cup final after an almighty struggle against impressive Mousehole.
The division one west leaders held the lead early on in a first half in which they were the brighter, more confident, more organised team.
They also battled hard in the second half and matched Bodmin in most areas of the pitch. And yet . . . Bodmin were the ones who found the winning goal.
You would say they were lucky if it didn’t keep happening, game after game after game.
Shane Krac’s 68th minute effort, which went in off the post, turned out to be enough to see Darren Gilbert’s side through the final against either St Austell or Godolphin Atlantic, who meet in the other semi-final on April 12.
The goal was greeted with relief as much as delight by the Bodmin bench, and that was understandable, because it took the team to dig very deep to achieve it.
Their problems started as early as the sixth minute when Sam Hillson was adjudged to have handled the ball and Mark Vercesi confidently swept the resulting penalty past Kevin Miller.
Bodmin’s response was immediate, with Adam Carter equalising a minute later from the penalty spot after Nick Hurst had been sent tumbling.
And normal service seemed to be resumed in the 19th minute when Sam Matthews sent a delightful chip over goalkeeper Dom Angove from Andrew Neal’s pass to put Bodmin ahead.
But there was nothing normal about Mousehole’s equaliser six minutes later. A collector’s item – a howler from Bodmin keeper Miller – led to the easiest goal Luke Johnson will ever score.
A ball through the centre of Bodmin’s half could have been dealt with by Tom Chambers but Miller, on the edge of his box, shouted for it. One horrific bobble of the ball on an uneven playing surface saw Miller slice his kick, sending the ball towards an unguarded net. Johnson did the rest.
Miller went some way to making amends five minutes later with a fine low save to deny Tim Nixon a goal as a confident Mousehole pushed for more goals, with Lewis Caspell and Bradley Wills proving a real handful.
Mousehole started the second half on top too, and a sliced attempted clearance from Steve Simmonds almost gave Nixon the chance to finish off at the far post, but he couldn’t quite get to the ball.
Bodmin’s defensive uncertainty continued in the 64th minute with Miller and Simmonds getting in each other’s way on the edge of the box, leaving Nixon to try his luck from 25 yards but his shot cleared the bar.
The introduction of Steve Bowker for the ineffective Adam Carter a minute later seemed to give Bodmin fresh impetus and they found a winner within three minutes.
Chambers, still upfield after a corner, provided a pass to set up Krac on the edge of the penalty area and the midfield man’s fierce low drive found the net.
Bowker had an effort ruled out for offside two minutes later and Matthews came close to a fourth goal ten minutes from time with a shot which hit the outside of a post.
Mousehole ended the tie strongly but couldn’t find an equaliser and they were left empty-handed from a very impressive performance.
For Bodmin, they will know they can play much better than this. When they start playing well as a team again, they will take some stopping!
Bodmin: Miller, Hillson, Bevan, Chambers, Simmonds, Allen (Bailey 88),. Matthews, Krac, Carter (Bowker 65), Neal, Hurst. Subs not used: Tasker, Gilbert, Corderoy (gk).
FOR the second time in three weeks, Tavistock walked away from a match with Carlsberg South West Peninsula League title favourites Bodmin feeling pretty hard done by.
The Devon side, third in the table, were still smarting from losing 5-3 at home on February 27, having led 3-1, as a couple of dubious penalties aided a spectacular late Bodmin revival at Langsford Park.
And they found no change of luck at Priory Park today as an out of sorts Bodmin clung on for a 2-1 victory after the visitors had dominated the second half.
Darren Gilbert’s men returned to the top of the table, on goal difference but with two games in hand on St Austell, who edged a 1-0 win over Godolphin Atlantic on Friday night to briefly reach the premier division summit.
Nick Hurst’s exquisite left foot volley after only three minutes gave Bodmin a perfect start and when Sam Matthews finished off Hurst’s pass from the right to make it 2-0 in the 24th minute, only a minute after former Bodmin striker Glyn Hobbs had hit the post, the destiny of the points looked familiar.
But credit to Tavistock; from a precarious position, they clawed their way back into the game and were unfortunate not to take a point back over the Tamar.
Lewis Coombes missed his kick from ten yards three minutes into the second half and there was more frustration for Tavvy in the 56th minute when the dangerous Jack Crago headed into the net, only to see the linesman waving for offside.
Crago was then denied in the 69th minute by a good save from Kevin Miller, but the warning signs were there for Bodmin and they conceded a penalty four minutes later as Crago went down, albeit in instalments, under a challenge from the otherwise excellent Sam Hillson.
Referee Derek Fox immediately pointed to the spot and Hobbs marked his return to Priory Park by hammering his spot kick low and hard past Miller.
Tavistock were almost level two minutes later as a superb glancing downwards header by Coombes brought out the best in the Bodmin keeper. Miller, who celebrated his 47th birthday earlier this week, somehow got down to keep the ball out one-handed.
The visitors continued to press as Bodmin were forced to defend in numbers. Those numbers got in the way of each other as the game moved into time added on and Crago appeared to be tripped as he burst into the penalty area.
The referee seemed to be running straight to the penalty spot but in fact he was moving closer to the ensuing melee in the box, with Tavistock’s players unsure whether to keep tackling or protest at the lack of a penalty award.
There was still time for Crago to find space inside the box but with time and space he lifted his shot over the bar to end Tavistock’s hopes of rescuing what would have been a deserved point.
Stuart Henderson’s side certainly gave it their all and against the majority of teams in the Peninsula League premier division, their performance would have been good enough to earn all three points.
But this is Bodmin, now unbeaten in 24 league games this season. They were far from their best today, and were fortunate, but you can’t be lucky over 24 games. Even when they don’t sparkle, they somehow get results.
As manager Gilbert said afterwards: “You can’t play well every week. Sometimes you just have to dig deep, work hard, and take what you can get.”
The only thing which might count against them is the number of games they are facing in the last two months of the season. They have 14 league games left, and ten of them have been squeezed into the month of April.
Their squad is looking a little stretched at the moment. Today they were without influential pair Steve Simmonds and Adam Carter (injured), while silky midfield man Jordan Dingle will be out for several more weeks recovering from a facial injury.
But all things considered, they remain the team to beat – and nobody in this region has managed to achieve that yet this season, in any domestic competition.
There were probably much better things to be doing with a Tuesday night in early March than watching two teams struggling to produce their best form on a pudding of a pitch in increasingly wet weather at Priory Park.
The saving grace for those who did turn out was that there was no extra time, with Nick Hurst’s deflected 17th minute effort seeing Bodmin through to a Walter C Parson League Cup quarter-final away to Helston Athletic next Tuesday, March 15 (7.30).
Witheridge did take off colour Bodmin all the way, though, with a period of pressure in time added on which almost brought them an opportunity in the opposition penalty area.
But the visitors, for all their possession in the second half, lacked a killer touch which could have put us all through at least another 30 minutes of ‘action’.
This third round tie was first scheduled to be played at Witheridge as far back as November 28th, incredibly more than three months ago. But repeated failed attempts to get the game on during the South West’s monsoon season meant the tie was switched to Bodmin.
And in such a tight contest, the Cornish side were grateful for home advantage.
The story might have been different had Mike Humphries’ seventh minute strike from 20 yards gone into the net instead of crashing against a post, with Bodmin keeper Kevin Miller helpless and flat-footed on his line.
If that was a slice of good fortune for Bodmin, they helped themselves to another big portion of it ten minutes later as Hurst’s left foot shot from 20 yards, after a mazy run and cut-in from the right, hit a defender and looped over goalkeeper Joe Moore into the far corner of the net.
The rest of the half was virtually featureless, although Moore was able to do something about an Andrew Neal chance in the 35th minute, keeping it out with his legs.
Moore also produced two great saves to deny Sam Matthews in the 65th and 77th minutes as Bodmin tried, unsuccessfully, to avoid a nervous finish by putting the game beyond their visitors.
This was not one of the better nights for Bodmin’s prolific strike force of Andrew Neal and Adam Carter. It turned out to be only the third game they have both played in since Neal signed in September in which at least one of them hasn’t scored.
The longer the match stayed at 1-0, the more edgy Bodmin became in increasingly awful conditions but they managed to see it through. Which is more than the unfortunate Jordan Dingle did.
The talented midfield maestro felt the full force of a ferocious sandwich tackle by two Witheridge players in the 78th minute which referee Simon Long, who had been an assistant referee at Manchester United’s Premier League game at West Brom on Sunday, saw nothing wrong with.
What he did see was blood pouring from Dingle’s mouth and immediately called for medical assistance for the stricken Bodmin player.
Dingle had to be replaced and left the ground nursing a very sore gash inside his mouth which may require further treatment. I wish him well.
Bodmin: Miller, Hillson, Tasker, Bailey, Simmonds, Dingle (Brown 80), Matthews, Allen (Krac 46), Carter (Dymond 87), Neal, Hurst. Subs not used: Chambers, Bevan.
Marriott Man of the Match: Nick Hurst – always a danger, took some ferocious stick from the Witheridge defence, and scored the goal.
League Cup quarter-finals (both Tuesday March 15, 7.30): Helston v Bodmin; Ivybridge Town v Godolphin Atlantic.
Semi-finals: Helston or Bodmin v Mousehole (at either Porthleven if Helston win or St Blazey if Bodmin win, Tues March 22, 7.30); Ivybridge or Godolphin v St Austell (date and venue to be arranged).
Seems like an age since I was sitting in the stand at Mount Wise, having stupidly decided that the man flu which had laid me low for a few days would benefit from a couple of hours in the wind and rain on a Tuesday night on the first day of March.
My ‘punishment’ for making such a ridiculous choice was to trudge away from the Cornwall Senior Cup semi-final at Newquay between Bodmin Town and Helston Athletic feeling worse than ever, and with the hint of toothache as a bonus.
The man flu refused to go away and the toothache developed into three days of agonising pain before antibiotics kicked in to calm the relentless throbbing of a troublesome abscess which will require surgery to finally clear it up.
But I am back in the land of the living, and I haven’t forgotten what went on during that match last week. It wasn’t much of a contest, to be honest, because Bodmin had raced into a 4-0 lead before Helston remembered they were involved in a game to decide who went through to the county’s big cup final.
One of their substitutes, Matt Fox, pulled a couple of goals back near the end to give the scoreline some respectability at 5-2, although had either Adam Carter or Andrew Neal (he only scored three) been on top form in front of goal, we would have been talking about a double-figure margin of victory.
It was a bad night on and off the field for Helston, who have since imposed an interim ban on one of their followers pending an investigation by the Cornwall FA into some of the behaviour of a minority of Helston supporters.
While I applaud the Helston club and their chairman Paul Hendy’s swift response to the situation, their officials, including first team manager Sid Taylor, need to take a long, hard look at the way some of their travelling supporters are behaving – because this was not a one-off, unfortunately.
Leadership has to come from the top. The supporters involved must be told that their behaviour is not acceptable, first and foremost, by the club itself.
I went along last Tuesday hoping to see a great cup tie in a good, competitive atmosphere; what I endured for virtually the full 90 minutes in the stand between the two dug-outs was the sort of verbal abuse from some Helston supporters towards match officials, opposition players and opposition management which you should not have to put up with at any local football match.
And the worst abuse didn’t come from burly menfolk. It was some of the female fans, young and not so young, who seemed to think it was okay to produce a tirade of appalling language, aimed at anyone who was not perceived to be on Helston’s side. And that was most people, according to them.
If there were any Cornwall FA representatives among the crowd in that stand, I hope they will have the guts to come forward and give their accounts of what they heard and witnessed. Especially as fourth official James Strout was the target of much of the abuse.
Forgive me if I don’t hold my breath waiting for action to be taken. The county association have history in bottling big decisions. The last time anything as serious as this raised its ugly head, the Cornwall FA buried theirs by deciding any hearing would be held ‘out of county’ which served to deflect any flak away from their front door.
Helston were also thought to be involved on that occasion, even though their team were not taking part in the match concerned, a Senior Cup final between St Austell and Bodmin at Wadebridge, during which a section of supporters behind one of the goals, flouting ground rules by openly drinking alcohol, hurled abuse at Bodmin goalkeeper Kevin Miller.
Helston had been playing in the Junior Cup final immediately before the Senior Cup final, and some of their more, shall we say, boisterous, followers decided to hang around, mainly behind the goal Miller was defending.
To any right-minded football supporter, the behaviour of that group of supporters, whether from Helston or St Austell, or perhaps a mixture of both, was not acceptable. The Cornwall FA missed an open goal in not stamping down in a big way on those involved.
The problem is that if you try to ignore a problem, or sweep it under the carpet as if it didn’t happen, it tends to come crawling back out at some stage.
EAST CORNWALL PREMIER LEAGUE
KJM SPORTS 