East Cornwall premier Bere Alston United 3
Launceston 4
ONCE again Bere's home form let them down as they produced another Jekyll and Hyde display that saw them play some of their worst football of the season to date in the opening 45 minutes. Such was Launceston's early dominance that it was no surprise when they took the lead after ten minutes as ex-Bere favourite Zac Beesley crossed for Richard Graves to nip in and head home at the far post. Five minutes later and Bere found themselves two down when the impressive Adam Crabb picked up a loose ball 30 yards from goal and fired an unstoppable shot into the top corner for Launceston's second.
A good run and cross from Bere's Marcus Pethick was fired over at the far post by Euan McCall as the home side struggled to get a foothold in the game and matters worsened two minutes later when Ashley Rowlands found himself completely unmarked at the near post to head home the Claret's third from a Beesley free kick. Bere grabbed a lifeline on the stroke of half time when Chris Bray was on hand to ram home from close range after a goal mouth scramble.
With manager Kevin Taylor's harsh words ringing in their ears, Bere came out a different side in the second half and quickly reduced the arrears to one goal when Will Westlake's rasping drive was parried by the Launceston keeper and Dan Follett followed up to net the rebound.
Five minutes later and Bere were level when Marcus Pethick's deep cross was headed in at the far post by Mike Curtis.
At this stage there appeared to be only one winner, but all Bere's hard work was undone ten minutes from time when Westlake fouled Launceston's Charlie Barnes and Chris Rockell steered the resulting penalty into the bottom corner to secure the three points for the visitors.
Ultimately, Bere paid the price for their inept first half display and will need to quickly put this result behind them with a tough away trip to Bude next Saturday.