Saturday, March 16

Carlsberg South West Peninsula League

Premier Division

Exmouth Town 5

LEAGUE leaders and title favourites Exmouth Town visited Pennygillam on Saturday, duly leaving with all three points.

However the real winner was the weather as Cornwall took a battering from strong winds and driving rain, making passing football nigh on impossible.

The visitors, backed by a sizeable and vociferous following, played with the wind behind them in the first-half, pinning the Clarets back for long periods.

Goalkeeper Tom Watson had already performed heroics to keep Exmouth at bay but it was Launceston, completely against the run of play, who created the first clear chance after 15 minutes. Great work by Jordan Walton set up Tom Savigar for a close-range shooting opportunity, but his well-struck effort crashed against the crossbar and away.

Walton then performed a remarkable goal-line clearance to keep the scoresheet blank, but after 23 minutes the visitors, almost inevitably, went in front when Jordan Harris just beat Watson from the penalty spot. Winger Ben Steer soon ran clear down the left to make it 2-0 and the Clarets turned around with a two-goal deficit to overcome.

Aided by the gale-force wind, Launceston approached the second period in good heart but that optimism lasted barely five minutes. Skipper Lee Rundle collected a second yellow card, for an innocuous-looking challenge, and a tough task became virtually impossible.

It took Exmouth until the 70th minute to stretch their lead, but goals from Ace High and Harris made it 4-0. As the game entered added time, substitute Dan Boere added a fifth but the Clarets deservedly got on the scoresheet when Jordan Walton fired past Town keeper Robbie Powell.

Launceston made the long trip to mid-table Helston last night before welcoming Newquay to Pennygillam on Saturday (3pm).

Launceston —

Tom Watson; Jack Lee, Dan Metherell, Lee Rundle, Charlie Hardcastle; Tallan Mitchell, Mike Steele (Webb, 65), Mike Burke (Riddell, 83), Callum Watson; Tom Savigar (Elvidge, 80), Jordan Walton

Substitutes: Cameron Webb, Mark Elvidge, Pat Riddell

Tavistock 4

Callington Town 0

JOSH Grant notched a first-half hat-trick as title-chasing Tavistock eased past their local rivals at Langsford Park and kept the pressure up on leaders Exmouth.

The striker slotted home the first before doubling the Lambs’ lead before the half hour mark.

Tavvy were dominant throughout and Grant notched his hat-trick before the break as Callington failed to exert any real influence.

Although they played much better in the second-half, Tavvy added a fourth through Liam Prynn.

Division One (West)

St Blazey 6

Bude Town 2

ST BLAZEY put Bude Town to the sword with a brilliant attacking display at Blaise Park.

The Green and Blacks started quickly and that continued throughout the game, running and not giving the visitors a second to spare.

They took the lead inside four minutes as former Launceston striker Jordan Hogan rifled in a brilliant overhead-kick.

However, the Seasiders drew level within five minutes as striker Billy Hopcroft — making a rare appearance for Town — received a throughball from Wes Pugh before rounding goalkeeper Brodie Cole and slotting home from close-range.

Blazey were rampant and extended their lead on 29 minutes through Callum McGhee, although Bude managed to get through to half-time without any further damage.

The second-half was the same story with Blazey having much of the ball and forcing visiting goalkeeper Gary Dinshaw into a string of fine saves.

However he was beaten a further four times, the pick of which came through Hogan’s ex-Launceston team-mate Rhys Walton as he fired in an unstoppable half-volley off the underside of the crossbar.

Hogan and McGhee added their second of the day either side of Ryan Oxley’s effort before Bude grabbed a late consolation as a long kick from Dinshaw was flicked on by Ben Potter for Scott Percy to do the rest.

Bude will need a vast improvement if they are to get anything from this weekend’s home clash with leaders Liskeard Athletic (3pm).

Mortgage Advice Bureau East Cornwall League

Premier Division

Callington Town P

Torpoint Athletic P

Division One

St Teath 2

(Woods, Adrian)

St Stephen 0

Roy Radford Memorial Division One Cup (quarter-final, second-leg) — St Minver win 4-3 on aggregate

St Minver 2

(E Green, Northcott)

Newquay 1

JJ Jones and Sons Duchy League

Premier Division

Foxhole Stars 9

Boscastle 1

(Shaw)

Division One

Gunnislake 4

(Wakenshaw, Davies, Kelly, Parsons)

Tregrehan Mills 2

Holywell and Cubert 23

North Hill 1

(Richards)

Saltash United 2

Stoke Climsland 1

(Fort)

Division Two

Altarnun 13

(S Smith 5, Porter 3, Wade 2, Ambrose 2, J Smith)

Grampound 1

St Columb Major 0

Tintagel 6

(Barrett 4, Page, A Price)

Division Three

St Eval Spitfires 1

Southgate Seniors 3

(Barron, Green, og)

Division Four

Boscastle 4

(Williams 2, Strout, Hambly)

St Cleer 1

Bude Town 1

(Hales)

Nanpean Rovers 5

Lifton 3

(L Rich, T Hancock, Cairns)

Newmoor Rovers 1

North Petherwin 4

(Volz 2, Prettyjohn 2)

Delabole United 1

(Turner)

Week St Mary 8

(Short 4, Sachs, Thomas, Bennett, Garcia)

St Mawgan 2

All scheduled fixtures involving Post area clubs in the North Devon League and Macron Devon and Exeter League were postponed due to the weather and will be rescheduled for later in the season.