Lostwithiel 2 v 1 St Minver 1sts

Following an excellent win at home to top of the table Pelynt last weekend, an away trip to bottom of the table Lostwithiel was hoped to be another 3 points up for the taking. Oh how football can smack you in the face!

On an emotional return to my boyhood club, which I played there from Under 14s and after one season at adult football I moved on to play my football at St Minver aged 17. The re-match of my youth was on. It was also great to meet up with Billy Davies who now manages Lostwithiel. A true gent and a real Cornish football legend.

For the first 30 minutes it was nip and tuck, but we were making significant progress through their right back position with Corey Cleave turning his defender inside out. Crosses were flashing across the box but we just could not pick out one of our own team. Steve Wootton went closest when he attacked the far post but could not direct his volley on target. The attacking Robbie Green was having his wings clipped by their experienced central midfielder.

At the same time Lostwithiel's attacks were causing us problems with their striker winning most headers (very unusual for us).

Then on 30 minutes Robbie Green managed to free himself of his marker and took up a great position wide right. He delivered a pinpoint cross which flashed across the box out of reach of their keeper. It just eluded the onrushing Ted Meagor but Andrew Seymour arrived on queue at the back post to stroke home in to the empty net. 1-0 and we hoped that would be the change in match momentum.

Then out of the blue an innocuous cross was dealt with by Chris but he unfortunately lost control of the ball and the Lostwithiel striker was on hand to drive the ball high in to the roof of the unguarded net. Game on and 1-1.

As half time approached it looked like we were going to be set up for the second half with a 1-1 scoreline. Unfortunately not. A long kick forward was not dealt with and the ball fell back in to Lostwithiel's midfield and was immediately returned to the striker who had escaped his markers and lobbed an unguarded keeper to put Lostwithiel 2-1 up at half time.

Half Time: Lostwithiel 2 v 1 Saints 1sts

We had a good chat at half time and sorted a few tactical issues to help us cope better with what Lostwithiel were throwing at us.

The second half was mainly one way traffic as attack after attack were launched on the stubborn Lostwithiel defence. Corey Cleave was flying down the left wing sending in ball after ball in to the box but unfortunately we were not able to find our onrushing attackers, and this was to prove to be our undoing on the day. We had so much 2nd half pressure but were unable to turn any attacks in to goals. Something we need to learn from to ensure if we are attacking down the wings we load the box covering all incoming channels.

As hard as we tried we just could not break down Lostwithiel, whilst they still managed to offer moments of unrest for us as they counter attacked.

We tried a couple of personnel changes to try and mix things up and provide that moment of magic, but unfortunately however hard we tried we could not make the required breakthrough.

The final whistle sounded and the disappointment was obvious and expected. We really gave it a go second half but just could not find the game changing moment.

Full time: Lostwithiel 2 v 1 Saints 1sts

After the game it was also announced that Ben Beesley was going to be standing down as 1st team manager to focus his energy on playing. I am delighted to move up from Assistant Manager to 1st Team Manager at a very very exciting time for the club. I want to pass on a massive thanks from all the team for the amazing job Ben has done over the last few seasons to keep the team going as Player/Manager.

Next week sees us at home to St Mawgan in the KMD Developments Knock Out Cup, ko 14:00.

Starting XI: Chris Andrews, Daniel Cox, Sam Cleave, Dayll Beesley (c), Dan Colwill, Ben Beesley, Ted Meagor, Steve Wootton, Robbie Green, Corey Cleave, Andrew Seymour

Subs: David Mullis , Dan Witts

Sharp's Brewery Man of the Match: Corey Cleave