LAUNCESTON boss Neil Price felt his side did enough to win the game as the Clarets made it four straight league victories in SWPL Premier West with a 2-0 success over Camelford at Pennygillam on Saturday.

The North Cornwall derby was goalless for over an hour before Mike Steele struck after seeing his initial effort from a penalty saved by Josh Colwill.

Former Truro City and Bath City striker Andy Watkins then sealed the points with a brilliant finish from Mark Wilson’s low cross.

A delighted Price told the Post: “It was a well-matched game physically in the first half which was pretty nip and tuck, and was played in good spirits.

“But I felt in the second half we slightly got on top, and into our stride, even though it was still slightly scrappy.

“They had a few free-kicks and corners that we dealt well with, but I felt we were more likely to score, and then we got the penalty.

“I know Reg wasn’t too happy with the decision, and I can understand why as it was a bit 50/50, but I’ve had a look at the video and there’s definitely contact. I think it’s one of those where if it’s given against you, you wouldn’t be too happy, but we’ll take it. The linesman vigorously waved his flag and I think that helped the ref make the decision.

“Josh Colwill made a good save from the penalty, but Mike was there to put the rebound away.

“From there on I felt like we’d get the next goal, and it was a brilliant finish from Watto.”

Price admitted the game needed a goal.

He said: “I think if we didn’t score when we did, there’s a good chance it would have finished 0-0.

“That opened the game up quite a bit.

“Camelford are a decent side and are tough to beat, but I felt we did enough to win the game.”

Launceston are now chasing the sides above them in mid-table, and Price is happy to take the handbrake off.

He said: “We’re improving, although we’ve still conceded 42 goals, it’s the second best outside of the top six, and 18 of those came in three games.

“And we’re also now scoring more goals as shown by the 14 we’ve scored in the last four games.

“We’re now starting to show where we should have been for most of the season, in and around mid-table.

“I think we’ve got a good enough squad to do that, and with players coming back now, we can have a real go in the last 14 games of the season.”

The first of those is at title-chasing St Austell, whose hopes were given a big boost by Bude Town holding Liskeard Athletic to a 2-2 draw on Saturday.

Price admits he can’t wait to see how his players respond to the challenge.

He said: “We’re now looking forward to going to St Austell where there’ll be no pressure on us.

“We’ll line up with three up front and one in behind in the hole, and have a go.

“There’s no point in just sitting in and getting beaten, so we’ll go for it.

“At our place it was 1-1 just after the hour before Sladey had to go off with a cut face which meant Josh Harris – an outfield player – had to go in goal, and although we ended up losing, we did well that day.

“As I said, we respect them but we’ll go for it. If we win or draw then lovely, and if we do lose we’ll do it enjoying ourselves.”

See this week's Post for David Harrison's report from the Camelford game.