In a significant development Mousehole AFC have appointed Deryk Heywood –  Chairman of Porthleven AFC – to the role of General Manager.  He will be responsible for both developing the commercial model of the club, working closely with its Endorsed Academy, while also driving forward the increasing number of developments at a local level.

Deryk Heywood who re-located to West Cornwall over 40 years ago explained his decision to move across to Trungle Parc:  “I’ve been at Porthleven for several years and made many good friends, and this last season was our best in the League for ten years. So its been a big decision to leave.  But the opportunity to be involved in something unique, with such huge ambition, energy and vision at Mousehole AFC, and joining the growing leadership team of the club, was simply too good to miss. Its incredible to see a club that is engaging so deeply with its community, schools, the RNLI and beyond – its fantastic.”

Deryk went on to explain his involvement with local football and how he was returning to a club very close to his heart.  As a former local player, which included an interesting stint at Mousehole – Deryk is no stranger to the West Cornwall football scene, and has many fascinating stories to tell.  “My first ever game of football in Cornwall was for St Just Youth team in 1974.  I then played in goal for Herland Rangers in the West Penwith League from 1975 and eventually joined Mousehole, where I have some fantastic and actually very emotional memories.”

“So, as you can imagine, I’m massively looking forward to returning to Mousehole, this time in a different capacity and applying myself to ensuring that both the club and Endorsed Academy achieve their vision and goals.”

The club would like to wish Deryk every success in his new role and welcome him to the team.

#FlyingAllTogether

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Mousehole AFC would like to formally thank Penzance AFC and their Chairman Terry Burgess for their willingness to explore a shared way forward for the future.

Although we will not be progressing together, we would like to put on record our greatest respect for the club and chairman and will continue to enjoy the healthy but competitive rivalry that exists between our two clubs.

In the meantime, Mousehole AFC continue to be fully committed to exploring all opportunities to better serve our community and create a brighter sporting future for our kids.

Several exciting developments are being put in place and announcements will be made in due course.

Get your tickets now for July’s Endorsed Cup

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Over 100 Seagulls’ players, partners and supporters attended The Lugger Inn, Penzance, on Friday 1^st June to celebrate a highly successful season for the club as a whole.

The opening presentation by Ezra Chapman referred to the many successes on the playing side. The First team finished 4^th in the South West Peninsula League West Division as well as winning the Cornwall Charity Cup and reaching the Cornwall Senior Cup for the first time in the club’s history.  The Reserves were promoted to the Trelawny League Premier Division as champions of Division 1, with only one defeat and a record-breaking 100% away record.  The newly-established Thirds finished in fourth place in Trelawny League Division 4 with a team assembled only at the start of the season.  Mousehole Women recorded their highest-ever position as they came runners-up in the Cornwall Women’s League, beaten only by champions St Agnes.

In terms of infrastructure, the club had quadrupled the number of teams to 13, including nine youth teams, and trebled the number of registered players.  Improvements had been made to Trungle Parc, planning permission was in place for floodlights and the ground now met the standards of the League above.  Many other developments were in the pipeline as the club continues into an era of significant change.  The Committee had been strengthened and there are up to 35 volunteers who regularly contribute their time and expertise to the running and further development of the club.

Votes for player awards were as follows:

Club player of the year was Luke Johnson

First teamer Jake Andrew picked up three awards:  Manager’s player of the season, Most improved player and top-goalscorer with 25 in total.

Third team player Jowan May was his team’s leading goalscorer and also the top scorer in the whole club with 38 goals.

Top goal-scorer for the Reserves’ was Chris Bullock (28 goals) and for the Women’s team Sophie Wilson (30)

The club’s young male player of the year was Tyler Tonkin and the young female player was Megan Edwards, while Josh Storey was the most promising player.

The First team player’s player was Liam Andrew.

For the Reserves, the Manager’s player was Jason ‘JJ’ Simmonds, while the players’ player was Nathan Goodspeed.

The Third team Manager’s player was Kalon Mayes and the players’ player was Joe Gibson.

For the Women’s team, the Manager’s player of the season was Carly Jacka, the players’ player was Katy Barker, and the most improved player Flo Davies Kirsop.
Sportsman of the year was Tom George.

On the non-playing side the following awards were announced:

Club person of the season: Andrew Large
Supporter of the year: Antony ‘AJ’ Munro
Chairman’s Special Award: Ben Gibson

*At the South West Peninsula League Annual Presentation evening in Plymouth on Saturday 2^nd June, Mousehole AFC were awarded prize money for their League Cup progress (the longest West Division surviving team in this season’s competition, and losing semi-finalists), and for finishing 4^th in the table as well as runners-up in the ‘Respect’ scores.  They also had the second best average home attendance (92) in Division One West, which was better than that of 9 of the 20 clubs in the Premier Division.

HAYLE RESERVES 3-5 MOUSEHOLE RESERVES

TRELAWNY LEAGUE DIVISION 1

SATURDAY 28^TH APRIL 2018

AT TREVASSACK PARK 3G PITCH

 Mousehole Reserves completed their League fixtures and finished off a memorable week – having guaranteed themselves promotion three games previously and then securing the title at RNAS Culdrose on Wednesday – with another win in an exciting end-to-end game at third-place Hayle Reserves on Saturday.

Their superb playing record for the League season reads:  Played 20, Won 17, Drawn 2 and Lost 1, with 78 goals scored and 18 conceded.  Those stats, remarkable in themselves, conceal a fascinating club record in that they won all ten of their away games during the season, the only  Mousehole team to achieve that in living memory.

Playing their fourth game in a week, The Seagulls were without Matt Howes, JJ Simmonds and Lee Robinson, but still had enough strength in depth in the squad to put a competitive side on the field.  It took a lot of effort to get going and start playing in the more accustomed manner, with early shots on goal from Tom Hooper and Nathan Goodspeed going wide of the target, and Jonathan Fitchett in the Mousehole goal having a busy period and just managing to finger tip a Hayle shot over the bar.

However, against the flow of play The Seagulls scored the opener with a combination between Chris Bullock and Tom Patrick whose shot found the back of the net.

Hayle then started to pile on the pressure, the Mousehole defence looking in trouble as numerous attacks started to break through the line, and it took some sterling work by Player-Manager Harry Tonkin to calm the situation.  But Hayle were rewarded for the efforts when a forward dribbled past several defenders to shoot home for an equaliser.  Fitchett was called on again to make a superb save to keep the scores level, though he was powerless as Hayle scored their second to take the lead a minute before the half-time whistle.

Following the start of the second half Mousehole appeared more focused, and good work by the forwards resulted in several on-target shots.  The Hayle ‘keeper made a fine save to keep out a Chris Bullock free kick at the expense of a corner, but from the resulting flag-kick Josh Storey headed in to make it 2-2.    Shortly afterwards Michael Fitchett’s mid-air challenge resulted in a head injury and he was replaced by Caleb Marsden.  Marsden had missed the two midweek games through injury but he quickly established some influence and a few minutes after shooting just wide of the post he scored to put Mousehole into the lead again at 3-2.

Responding to this setback Hayle were awarded a penalty, but the spot kick hit the upright and was netted on the re-bound, with the assistant referee flagging for offside but over-ruled by the referee, so that the scores were now level at 3-3.  Back came Mousehole, and Josh Storey popped up for his second goal to take the score to 4-3.  It was not long before Mousehole were awarded a penalty of their own, and after some ‘discussion’ it was the captain’s decision to give the opportunity to Josh Storey, and he duly despatched the kick for his hat-trick to complete the scoring.

After another ‘Flying All Together’ performance, the League Championship Shield was presented by a Cornwall FA official to Mousehole Reserves’ captain Joe Davies and the team, together with individual player medals.

The squad has developed a winning mentality, as evidenced by their season’s playing record, and the only ‘what-might-have-been’ is the other silverware they might have picked up if the various Cup competitions had not been cancelled after a weather-disrupted few months.

So, Harry Tonkin and Mark Trevail’s men return to the Trelawny League Premier Division just one season after relegation, and they will be looking to continue their impressive form at the higher level when the new campaign gets under way in late August.

Mousehole Reserves on the day:  Jonathan Fitchett, Joe Davies (captain), Tom McGarry, Harry Tonkin, Michael Fitchett, Chris Bullock, Jamie Simons, Tom Hooper, Nathan Goodspeed, Caleb Marsden, Josh Storey, Louis Main, Kyle Bickmore, Mark Trevail, Tom Patrick, Tom George.

 MOUSEHOLE v MILLBROOK

SATURDAY 28^TH APRIL 2018

SOUTH WEST PENINSULA LEAGUE, DIVISION 1 WEST

AT TRUNGLE PARC, KICK OFF 3PM

Fifth-place Mousehole face top-of-the-table Millbrook tomorrow in a vital match for both teams.

If Mousehole continue their fine winning form, with three victories in a row under new Player-Manager Calum Elliot, they will remain in touching distance of the four teams above them – Millbrook, Liskeard, Ludgvan and Porthleven.  And with points guaranteed to be dropped in the Liskeard v Ludgvan encounter on the same day and another four matches to play involving top-six ‘head to heads’, it could make for a very interesting last few games of the season, with the six title rivals currently separated by only seven points.

If however Millbrook win at Trungle Parc – on paper the most difficult of their remaining five games – they will continue to lead the table and at the same time have a nine point advantage and greatly superior goal difference over The Seagulls, who will then have only three games left.

Millbrook have lost only three League games all season and beat Mousehole 4-1 at Jenkins Park on 19^th August.  They have not lost a League match since a floodlit 4-2 defeat at Elburton Villa on 17^th October, since when they have won 11 and drawn 4.  Their other previous defeats were 1-0 at Illogan and 3-0 at home to Penzance.  Millbrook are the Division’s highest scorers with 88 goals – one better than Liskeard – and have conceded 37 – again one better than Liskeard and equal to Elburton. They have two players in the ‘Golden Boot’ charts – Rikki Shepherd with 15 goals and Ryan Knight with 14.

The club is expecting a sizeable crowd for this important fixture and car drivers are asked to arrive early to avoid traffic congestion on entry to the ground.  The clubhouse will be open as usual from early on, with all-comers welcome, and a free match programme will be available.

Following the news that senior player Calum Elliot will take the reins as First team Manager, Mousehole AFC are delighted to announce that Dave Leonard will remain in a leadership role with The Seagulls.

Calum Elliot has moved quickly to agree that Dave will take on the role of Player Liaison, which involves communication with players and promoting the club across the county.  Elliot regards Dave as having enormous energy as well as an ambitious vision for the club and is looking forward to an effective working relationship.

Leonard was pleased to be able to clarify his position at Mousehole:  “Following recent changes and developments, I am really looking forward to continuing in a specific role as player liaison and leadership support to help Mousehole Football Club achieve their ambition of promotion and progression.  I have so far greatly enjoyed my time at the club and am committed to working closely with the leadership team to help develop and promote the club in realising its long term strategy”.

The club would like to put on record its thanks for Dave Leonard’s effort, commitment and professionalism and we look forward to continue working together.

#FlyingAllTogether

The club have parted company with 1st Team Manager Kevin Richards with immediate effect.

The club would like to thank Kevin for his contribution to this season and wish him all the best for the future.

1st Team player/assistant manager Calum Elliot will lead the team until the end of the season.

#cornishfootball #flyingalltogether #FAT