⚽ St Blazey ‘absolutely brilliant’ in FA Cup win, says co-chief Richardson
Plus: We hear from Falmouth Town, Helston Athletic and Mousehole on their FA Cup wins, plus words from Bude Town, Truro City and Plymouth Argyle, and our first Grassroots Review of the season...
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⬇️ In today’s newsletter ⬇️
🟢 St Blazey: Team were ‘absolutely brilliant’ in FA Cup win, says co-chief Richardson
🟣 Wendron: O’Neill frustrated by ‘really disappointing’ display
🟢 Mousehole: Ash excited for rare Cornish away day in next round
📸 IN PICTURES: Wendron United 1-3 St Blazey
🔵 Helston: Cusack targets more FA Cup success this season
🟡 Falmouth: Cup success is great for the club, says Westgarth
⚽ Grassroots Review: St Mawgan and Illogan are early leaders
⚪ Truro: Wotton thrilled by ‘exhilarating’ performance in Welling rout
🔵 Bude: Seasiders chief ‘gutted but proud’ after draw at Bodmin
🟢 Argyle: Schumacher delighted with opening-day win at Home Park
Enjoy. 〓〓
🟢 St Blazey: Team were ‘absolutely brilliant’ in FA Cup win, says co-chief Richardson
By Matt Friday at Underlane
Wendron United 1 (Wood)
St Blazey 3 (Cloke 2, Kenny)
FA Cup extra preliminary round
Saturday, August 5, 2023
St Blazey co-manager Brad Richardson was thrilled with his team's ability to grind out a win amid the effects of Storm Antoni as the Blaise Park outfit defeated Wendron United in the FA Cup extra preliminary round.
The Green and Blacks marked their return to the FA Cup after ten years away with victory at South West Peninsula League Premier West outfit Wendron, who were making their debut in the competition.
A goal either side of the break from skipper Luke Cloke put St Blazey in control, and while the Underlane outfit pulled one back through Josh Wood, substitute Callum Kenny came off the bench to clinch progression for the visitors, who had Lewis Russell sent off late on.
The Green and Blacks will now welcome newly-promoted Southern League side Mousehole to Blaise Park in the next round.
“I’m very pleased," Richardson told Cornwall Sports Media after the final whistle. “I’ve got a smile on my face which I didn’t quite have on Tuesday night [after losing to Falmouth]. If you come down here in the first half like it was with the wind, you’ve got to dig in and you’ve got to grind it out and I thought we were good value for it today, I thought we were really good.”
He added: “At the minute we’re patching the squad together because we’ve got players out. Today we've played Lewis Russell, who is a 34-year-old who has never played a game in centre-midfield in his life and he played in centre-midfield today. Aaron Dilley’s had norovirus for 14 days, lost two stone in weight and he’s played today, so we’re literally a patched-up side, but they were absolutely brilliant to a man today.”
There was little in the way of goalmouth action early on as both sides struggled to adapt to the howling wind that dogged most of the county's games on Saturday, with Isaac McCue teeing up Cloke for the first effort of the day which was well saved by Wendron custodian Ethan Fearn.
St Blazey began to settle as the half wore on with McCue and Cloke having two efforts apiece while Kieron Bishop shot into the side netting. At the other end, Charlie Young sliced a shot wide of Shaun Semmens’ goal.
The breakthrough came in the final minute of the first half and it was nothing the visitors didn't deserve for their first-half efforts. Matt Lloyd threaded a pass through to Cloke, who strode into the box before drilling the ball past Fearn.
If that was the proverbial ‘good time to score’, things got even better for the visitors three minutes after the turnaround when Cloke doubled the advantage, arrowing the ball into the bottom corner of Fearn's net from the edge of the box.
That woke up the hosts and they promptly enjoyed their best spell of the game, with Ryan Reeve having a penalty appeal waved away before Jacob Cleverly drilled a shot over the bar.
And Wendron found their way back into the game with just over 30 minutes left to play. A lofted ball over the top of the defence led to a foot-race between Semmens and Wood that was won by the latter, who lifted the ball over the 'keeper before stroking it into the empty net.
Back came St Blazey, however, and they scored the goal that would ultimately secure progression in the 69th minute. Not long after Kenny blazed a good opportunity over the bar, the substitute made amends as he lashed a fierce effort past Fearn.
With time running out, Wendron needed a bit of help if they were to get back into the game and they had it when Russell received a second yellow card. O'Neill's side couldn't capitalise, though, with Wood putting Reece Carroll's cross agonisingly wide from six yards out as the visitors saw out the game.
“I thought we were good value for it, if I’m being honest,” Richardson said. “Especially in the first half where that wind was howling where our ‘keeper is taking goal kicks and it’s going just to the edge of the box.
“Clokey came off injured and was struggling a bit before the game and I said, ‘Give me everything you’ve got,’ and he did that and Cal Kenny has come on and wrapped the game up to a certain degree.
“But to a man today we were absolutely brilliant, and Isaac McCue was absolutely outstanding. He played in the pocket, got us on the half-turn, got us playing and got us passing the ball where I want us to play and I thought he was absolutely outstanding for a young kid, he was a manager’s dream.”
On the prospect of facing last year’s Western League Premier Division champions Mousehole in the next round, Richardson added: “[It'll be] a tough test. I don’t think we’ve been in this competition for ten years and it’s a nice little money-spinner for the club, and let’s see what we can do against Mousehole.”
🟣 Wendron: O’Neill frustrated by ‘really disappointing’ display
In contrast, Wendron boss O'Neill cut a frustrated figure at full-time, with the Dron chief blaming a lack of team cohesion for his side's early exit from the FA Cup.
Playing their first match of the season — in contrast to it being St Blazey's third — Wendron were second best for much of the game as they came up short against the side that pipped them to the SWPL Premier West title last term.
“Really disappointing,” O'Neill replied when asked to sum up his thoughts on the game. “I felt we never got going at any point, nothing that we really looked at and worked on during pre-season paid off at all today.
“I felt there was lots of individualism and not enough team cohesion to try and do what we wanted and what we expect of ourselves and I was really, really disappointed actually.
“I don’t like conceding at any time to be honest, but the manner and the timing, both of those, we’ve absolutely killed ourselves in the worst possible way and at the worst possible times and if you do that then you're going to lose games and that was obviously the case today.
“You train all the time to play in a certain way and then you go out there and you don’t do any of it, that’s the biggest frustration.”
It was a result that did not match the occasion as Wendron made their debut in the FA Cup, with the Dron one of only three SWPL clubs and only seven step six sides throughout the country to play in the competition this season.
It is another marker of progress for one of the county's most progressive clubs, and while O'Neill acknowledged the significance of the day, he admitted the performance was not befitting of the occasion.
“Being in the FA Cup is a fantastic achievement for the club as a whole and I’m incredibly proud that I get the opportunity to manage them in it,” he said, “but you deserve to be in it based on your efforts and your performances and we’ve just been really flat today.
“Whether that’s the occasion, whether that’s whatever other reason I’m slightly unsure, but we’ve come unstuck today, well and truly, and I think it’s time for everyone to take a couple of days for a bit of self-reflection.”
🟢 Mousehole: Ash excited for rare Cornish away day in next round
By Matt Friday
Mousehole 4 (Bray-Evans 2, Sousa, Goldsworthy)
Ilfracombe Town 1 (Beck)
FA Cup extra preliminary round
Saturday, August 5, 2023
Mousehole chief Jake Ash is relishing a rare chance to visit another Cornish team after the Seagulls set up an FA Cup preliminary round trip to St Blazey following a fine victory over Ilfracombe Town at Trungle Parc.
The newly-promoted Southern League side led at the break through Jack Bray-Evans and Paulo Sousa before Ollie Beck pulled one back for the Bluebirds, but Mark Goldsworthy and Bray-Evans were on hand to clinch victory for Ash’s men.
The Seagulls will now head to Cornish rivals St Blazey in the next round for what will be a rare away game in the Duchy this season due to Mousehole’s promotion precluding them from entering the Cornwall Senior Cup – a rule that Ash feels should be changed.
“This will be our only Cornwall away game because obviously we’ve got no Senior Cup, which I think is a disappointment,” he told Cornwall Sports Media. “I think it’s something for the county FA to look at really because once we’re out of the cups by Christmas, unless we have a great run in either the FA Cup or FA Trophy, that’s us out of cup competitions.
“There’s six Cornish teams in the Western League now, they’re only a league below us and they were the hardest games for us last season, so it’s not like if we’re in the Senior Cup we’re going to smash our way through, it just doesn’t make sense to me.
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