MILLBROOK 4-1 MOUSEHOLE
SOUTH WEST PENINSULA LEAGUE WEST DIVISION
SATURDAY 19TH AUGUST 2017 AT JENKINS PARK
After two high-scoring away draws – 4-4 at St Dennis and 3-3 at Porthleven – Mousehole returned to the scene of their first-ever fixture in the newly-formed South West Peninsula League ten years ago , but came up against a Millbrook team strengthened in the summer after finishing an impressive 4th last season and having already begun the new campaign with a draw and an away win.
The Seagulls travelled with 13 local players among a 15-man squad having an average age of around 20 years. Josh Otto featured for the first time this season and local lad Joshua Storey started in the back line – at a few days after his 16th birthday probably the youngest first-team debutant in recent times – but were without injured goalkeeper Steve Parker-Billinge and Yeshe Briar.
Mousehole passed the ball around well for the opening period and created a couple of half chances, but were caught out twice after losing possession in their own half, allowing the pacy Millbrook attack to capitalise with two straightforward finishes.
An uphill struggle at two-nil down at half-time became a mountain to climb within five minutes of the re-start, firstly when a left-wing cross floated over deputising goalkeeper Adam Robathan, followed by an unchallenged header from in front of goal, resulting in a 4-0 scoreline and bringing to 11 the number of goals already conceded by Mousehole in the first three matches.
The hosts were content to close the game down for the remainder of the game and despite seeing a lot of the ball The Seagulls rarely threatened the well-organised home defence. After a hat-trick in each of the first two matches, Jerome Slew found openings hard to come by, but he had the final word in injury time, whipping in a penalty after a foul on Lewis Caspall.
With only two points on the board out of a possible nine, Mousehole will be expecting to improve their tally when they play their fourth away game of the season this Wednesday (23rd), kick off 6.30pm, at nearby Wendron United, who lost 7-1 at Wadebridge on the opening day but then won away 2-1 at Illogan in midweek. The Seagulls then travel to high-flying Liskeard Athletic on Saturday (26th), kick off 3pm.
Mousehole: Adam Robathan, Joshua Storey, Billy Curtis (captain), Ben Williams, James Taylor, Kevin Lawrence, Bradley Wills, Lewis Caspall, Josh Otto, Luke Johnson, Jerome Slew
Substitutes: Used – Matt McIlroy, Finn Cross, Nathan Goodspeed. Unused – Louis Graham
Mousehole scorer: Jerome Slew (penalty, 90+2).
Referee: Jake Webster
