THE?Carlsberg South West Peninsula League finally kicked off this week with Premier Division side Camelford in action at home to Sticker while Launceston get their first campaign under new joint managers Mark Blake and Mike Walton underway on Tuesday night when they welcome last year’s Cornwall Senior Cup winners Saltash United to Pennygillam (7.30pm).

Camelford FC?news

THE?Camels’ unbeaten pre-season came to an end at St Blazey last Tuesday night in a ten-goal thriller.

Ryan Pooley set up the in-form Adam Sleep for the visitors’ opener before Blazey went in front.

However they were pegged back by half-time as Pooley slotted in after good work down the left by Joe Adkins.

The second-half started well for Reg Hambly’s men as Sleep reacted quickest at the far-post for his 14th goal in 11 games to put them 3-2 up, before a mad five-minute spell cost them.

A poor backpass made it 3-3 before two 25-yard screamers put The Green and Blacks 5-3 up.

Adkins’ trickery was a huge problem for Blazey and after he was fouled, Ed Harrison converted to make it 5-4.

Blazey did score once more before the end after a bout of ping-pong in the box.

Reflecting on the game, Hambly said: “St Blazey were a decent outfit.

“We gave away a couple of soft goals and they scored a couple of crackers from 25 yards.

“But it was a very good workout and we scored four goals which was a positive. I’m happy with us going forward but we need to cut out the basic errors at the back.”

The North Cornwall club were back in action on Friday night at Division One (West) side Liskeard Athletic and came away with a 2-1 victory to round off their pre-season preparations.

The Camels were 2-0 up at the break thanks to efforts from Scott Sanders and Adkins before the Lux Park outfit got a late consolation.

Summing up a pre-season, which saw them win five of their six friendlies and score 20 goals in the process, Hambly said:?“It’s been an unusually good pre-season for us as we often struggle with availability.

“However we’ve got some really good results in the bag which gives us a bit of confidence going into the new season.

“We know it’ll be a completely different game against Sticker but hopefully we can get off to a good start.”

See next week’s Post to find out how they got on.

Launceston FC news

LAUNCESTON continued preparations for their upcoming Carlsberg South West Peninsula League Premier Division season with a 2-2 draw against Division One East side Teignmouth last Saturday on Plymouth Argyle’s excellent 3G surface at Manadon.

After an even first-half, the Clarets took a 43rd minute lead when Lewis Young unselfishly set up Rhys Walton, who finished neatly.

The Clarets began to dominate possession after the break and it was very much against the run of play when Teignmouth grabbed a 65th minute equaliser. Young Launceston keeper Tom Watson made a fine blocking save and was unlucky to see the rebound poked home.

The North Cornwall side regained the lead in the 82nd minute with a rare goal from last season’s Supporters’ Player of the Year Dan Metherell. The big defender capitalised on a goalkeeping error and rammed home a right-footed drive.

Launceston looked sure to close out the victory but some late defensive hesitancy enabled the Devon side to register a scarcely deserved draw.

Despite being denied a welcome boost, the game provided more valuable game-time ahead of Tuesday night.