GODOLPHIN ATLANTIC 2-3 ST CLEER: THE MATCH REPORT...

Godolphin Suffer From Wind, Flagging And A Resolute St Cleer Rearguard…

Godolphin Atlantic 2-3 St Cleer

Three opportunistic strikes before the break, down the Godolphin Way slope but very much against the very strong wind on the day, earned St Cleer a famous victory against Atlantic. A pair of fine strikes from distance by home forwards Craig Harvey and Josh Harris, who on another day would have won this match on his own, would not prove enough for the hosts, who dominated the second period of the game with nothing to show but frustration with the officiating, visiting goalie Ollie Trevarthen and their own profligacy in front of goal. Their guests had scored three times from four chances before the interval, including a brace for the predatory Zak Peel and a deserved goal for strike partner Charlie Coates but the dishevelled defending by Atlantic certainly led to their own downfall.

INNOVATION BY ST CLEER AS THEIR LINESMAN FINDS IT EASIER TO WEAR HIS FLAG THAN CARRY IT...

HARRIS SEEMS TO LIKE THE BALL...

By the end, a strong and determined St Cleer defence, in which Connor Stone, Callum Buck and Aaron Varcoe were impressively resilient, backed by the exuberance between the goalposts of Ollie Trevarthen, won the day for the visitors. Apologies are due to Stone of St Cleer for in the hurry to scribble down the names of the St Cleer team during half-time, for I was not allowed to see their team-sheet until moments before kick-off, I mistakenly thought his surname was Connor, as evidenced by my screaming in the wind commentary. Also, the camera malfunctioned just as Harris fired his opener for Godolphin and I missed his strike, although I saw it with my own eyes…

OLLIE TREVARTHEN: FINE GAME...

The visitors broke against the wind four times before the recess for pasties and Sharp’s Coconut Stout and actually made three of them count. Coates moved clear at inside-right onto a back-pass by the hardworking Matt Saunders in the opening moments but home goalie Josh Fearn raced from goal to save with his lower limbs and Jordan Dennis, nursing a knock it seemed, wasn’t able to get onto the rebound. Soon though, following a fine shot on the turn from downtown by Harris which soared past Ollie Trevarthen into the top right corner of the net to give the hosts the lead, a shot by Coates assisted Peel to regain parity for St Cleer.

1-0 TO GODOLPHIN...

From 22 yards out Coates was able to clip a shot goalwards which dipped, allowing the bearded, arching Fearn to tip the ball onto his cross-beam but the ball bounced down and only Peel peeled off the watchers in the 18 yard box and he equalised easily from close range, gleefully.

ST CLEER CHEER...

He was at it again shortly afterwards, hanging about like a carrion crow at a pheasant road-kill, watching as Fearn raced from goal and became embroiled in a misunderstanding with his defenders, allowing the predator to seek his prey in the fracas and roll the ball into an empty net.

TWO ST CLEER PLAYERS FORM A BRIDAL ARCH FOR THEIR TEAM-MATES...

Incredibly, Coates then stayed onside, as Peel languished offside and the burly forward evaded Fearn’s rush from goal by veering right and with some precision turned his angled low shot into the gaping goal, as the Godolphin forwards stared in disbelief at their defenders’ misdemeanours.

NOW THIS IS A 'MANLY' CELEBRATION...

But what of the hosts? Well, they did pull a goal back quickly after going 1-3 behind and this time it was Harvey who used the elements to fire a great shot high past Ollie Trevarthen into the top right corner of the net from 24 yards, inside-right channel. Otherwise, the hosts were unable to cause the St Cleer ‘keeper too much hassle, in truth. Callum Gadney saw a shot deflected, Billy Tedder-Hart missed with a lobbed attempt and had a low shot saved falling right by the ‘keeper, whilst Jacob Grange fired a shot which dropped onto the dressing-room roof and also headed well wide of the left upright during the opening exchanges. Harvey had forced Ollie Trevarthen into an early save at his near post and his later back-header dropped onto the crossbar, but Harris was the main protagonist, looking dangerous several times.

ACTUALLY, THE SEA IS IN THE OTHER DIRECTION...

His free-kick was deflected over the target by a brick in the wall, he shot low at the goalie and just failed to get a touch to Grange’s centre, after Ben Colquhoun’s stretch had not quite connected either. A back-heel by Harris was snuffled out by the visiting defence too but all in all, the half-time scoreline was odd, for the hosts had worked up the slope with a powerful wind behind them, scoring twice, yet the guests had enjoyed the benefit of the slope behind them but had suffered the awful wind in their faces and scored three times… Intriguing second period in store then…

CONNOR LOOKS AT THE REFEREE, WHO INSTANTLY TURNS TO STONE... (GEDDIT? HE'S CONNOR STONE...) 

Peel had been cautioned before the recess and he would be followed into the referee’s notebook by both Stone and Buck after the restart. In fact the only real effort at goal by the visitors was a deflected angled effort by Peel which was stopped by Fearn. A couple of rare breaks came to nought also but the lack of attacking by St Cleer was solely the result of Atlantic’s efforts to equalise. Colquhoun was tackled when well placed, Harvey hooked a shot off target, saw an angled drive from the right deflected for a corner, possibly by the goalkeeper and he later tapped in from close range, although offside had been signalled to cancel out the goal. Gadney was foiled by a combination of the ‘keeper and a defender, a delivery by Godolphin’s only substitute Kieran Rowland flew off a defender and over the crossbar and right-back Dan Soley headed well wide from a set-piece. 

A BRACE FOR PEEL...

However, the main threats came from home skipper Jadon Gotthardt and of course Harris. Gotthardt fired too high then watched as Stone denied him twice in successive moments. First his downward header was hacked away from the goal-line and he hooked the rebound goalwards too only for Stone to keep that out of the net. Harris shot wide following a good dribble, then hit two free-kicks from 25 yards, the first of which took a slight touch off Ollie Trevarthen’s gloves as it whistled past the left upright and the second effort was low towards the right stick but the goalie was down quickly to smuggle it behind for a corner.

IT WAS LIKE WATCHING COVENTRY CITY...
(ACTUALLY BETTER THAN THAT, CUZ CITY PLAY AT ST 'CURSED' ANDREWS...)

The talking point though was a headed goal disallowed for offside, when Harvey did well to get in a kind of shot but the ball bounced up off a grounded defender, who was seemingly closer to the goal than Harris and the striker nodded the ball into the net from a yard. The goal was disallowed. No criticism should be made of any of the officials, who probably made fewer errors all afternoon than any of the players who performed on the pitch…

HARVEY HAS SCORED FOR ATLANTIC...

So, St Cleer held on to secure their victory and the subsequent celebrations afterwards displayed just how special the result was to them… Stone, Ollie Trevarthen, Varcoe, Buck and skipper Ryan Chapman all played important roles, as did midfielder Will Trevarthen but forwards Coates and Peel struck when it mattered…

LOOKS LIKE A VENTRILOQUIST HAS GOT HOLD OF CHAPMAN, THE ST CLEER SKIPPER...

Atlantic were decently served by Harvey in attack, Harris was the goal menace, Gadney and Tedder-Hart were industrious in midfield, whilst Gotthardt and Sam Blackwood were always involved. However, credit must go to winger Grange, whose skill for beating defenders was much in evidence, although perhaps he received less service after the half-time pause and was thus slightly less of a danger during the second period…

BUCK (2) IS CAUTIONED WHILST HARRIS (17) HAS HIS BOOT WORSHIPPED...

PEEL IS BEING BOOKED...

I returned to Mawgan Porth to find out how awfully slow the WiFi was at the pub and I reckon it’ll be Thursday before the 20 minutes of video action has been uploaded… 

HARVEY & BUCK HAD A SKIRMISH EARLY ON...

Badly done, WiFi, badly done…

SQUADS:

GODOLPHIN ATLANTIC:

JOSH FEARN, DAN SOLEY, JADON GOTTHARDT (CAPT), CALLUM GADNEY, JACOB GRANGE, CRAIG HARVEY, BILLY TEDDER-HART, SAM BLACKWOOD, BEN COLQUHOUN, MATT SAUNDERS, JOSH HARRIS, KIERAN ROWLAND.

ST CLEER:

OLLIE TREVARTHEN, CALLUM BUCK, AARON VARCOE, CONNOR STONE, WILL TREVARTHEN, CHARLIE COATES, ZAK PEEL, RYAN CHAPMAN (CAPT), HARRY BARTLETT, JORDAN DENNIS, AARON SAUNDERS, KYLE TAMBLYN, JOE MOYNAN, ETHAN GWILLAM, JOEL MITCHELL, WILL GILBERT.