St. Columb Major AFC

Major made a bright start to the game; the visiting goalkeeper had to be alert to Aaron Bicknell's goalbound strike and leading goalscorer Dom Roberts had claims for a penalty waved away when he was on the receiving end of a clumsy challenge. As a result, strike partner David Rabone found his name in the referee's notebook after one word too many with the match official, who diffused the situation accordingly.


It proved to be the same trio involved in the opening goal when a clear push on Rabone was seen by the referee who pointed to the spot to give Roberts a chance to add to his tally. Roberts duly obliged, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way with a well executed penalty. Instead of opening the floodgates, the goal did little more than put some gloss on what was a fairly tepid affair for the remaining twenty minutes of the first half, with both sides failing to create any clear cut opportunities other than a brief exchange of free kicks from distance that failed to trouble either goalkeeper. Polperro waited until the final five minutes of the half to carve out their first meaningful opportunity and Gordon Niner, who had managed to beat the offside trap, went through on goal and just as he looked like making the chance more difficult for himself, Niner managed to bundle the ball past Anton Lake in the Major goal for an unlikely equaliser.


Although Major dominated possession and opportunities in the second half, it appeared that the away side were content with sitting back in the hope of securing a point away from home and Ali Bicknell should have added to the scoreline when his scuffed shot fell favourably with Bicknell unable to take advantage, sidefooting over from close range. A series of corner kicks were well defended and it took a moment of quality from Marco Ciarleglio to put St. Columb back in front. When Dom Roberts collected an over-hit cross on the opposite flank, his centre also sailed over the heads of the masses but picked out Ciarleglio who had it all to do as he collected the ball impressively and drove into the crowded area. Some smart footwork made enough room for a low left foot strike that beat the goalkeeper at his near post for St. Columb's 50th goal of the season, much to the delight of his team mates and the sizeable local support.


For a moment it looked like Major would capitalise and add to their impressive goalscoring tally; a flowing team move found Ciarleglio just inside the box and his smartly executed curling strike on goal was expertly turned away by the Polperro goalkeeper, who received applause from the home fans and a word of ackowledgement from the match official. Despite looking comfortable in the second half, the game may have ended differently had Aaron Hawken not made a smart block to prevent a goalbound strike from testing Lake, who ultimately had very little to do in what turned out to be a satisfactory performance that resulted in a positive start to 2012.


Newquay Logs and Coal man of the match - Marco Ciarleglio