Carlsberg South West peninsula premier

Callington Town FC 2

Tavistock AFC 3

THE pitch passed an inspection at 2pm for this local derby to go ahead, although it was heavy and did cut up during the game.

Tavistock got off to a good start and opened the scoring in the third minute; a classic move from back to front saw the ball find Josh Grant and his powerful low cross into the six yard box was inch perfect for the on rushing Sam Davey, who flash the ball home from six yards.

The Lambs continued to dominate the play and spurned a golden opportunity to double their lead when Tallan Burns fired over the bar from ten yards. Scoring opportunities continued to be created, but some resolute defending by the home defence who blocked shots while goalkeeper Borthwick made some good saves to deny Josh Robins and Grant from scoring.

Callington were relying on counter attacks and were restricted to long range efforts, which were dealt with by the visitors’ defence and goalkeeper.

The Lambs doubled their lead in the 40th minute when another fine passing move resulted in Burns providing the perfect cross for Jack Crago to slot the ball home.

The second half started as the first half finished with the visitors continuing to dominate the game. In the 54th minute Sam Davey saw his fine effort cleared off the goal line. Minutes later Jack Crago’s fierce shot was saved off the goal line for a corner kick which was cleared.

The Lambs almost paid the penalty for these missed chances when Callington reduced the deficit. In the 70th minute the Lambs lost possession in the middle of the park; a fine pass put Cotton in on goal, he calmly rounded Josh Oak before slotting the ball home.

This injected belief into the home team and a few minutes later the scores were level. A long clearance by Borthwick found McCullion, who scored from close range.

This made a nervous last ten minutes for the visitors. Manager Stuart Henderson made some substitutions with Luke Brown replacing Burns and Liam Prynn on for Davey.

Then with four minutes remaining a fine move by Tavistock saw Luke Brown jink his way into the penalty area only to be crudely brought down by Borthwick the home keeper. He was the last man, blatantly denying Brown of a scoring opportunity, so the referee had no option but to show him a straight red card. Grant made no mistake as he flashed home the spot kick to restore the Lambs lead.

The visitors saw out the remainder of the game to record another victory to put them level on points with Plymouth Argyle with two games in hand.

This was a game where the Lambs should have had at least double the lead they took into the interval and nearly paid the penalty as Callington got back in the game. The second half performance was not up to high standards that the team normally set, however, they managed to raise their game in the last ten minutes to secure another important three points.

Man out the match was Tavistock’s Mason Hughes for his athleticism and quality on the ball, always willing to provide fantastic options in the final third.

Manager Stuart Henderson said: ‘The first half performance was excellent. I don’t recall Callington having a shot from open play. I was disappointed that it was not more than 2-0 at the interval. Callington got numbers behind the ball and a combination of good defending and spurned opportunities.

‘The second half saw both Jack Crago and Sam Davy have efforts cleared off the goal line. Then a mistake in our midfield lead to the first goal and a long clearance to a player that looked in an offside position saw Callington level the scores. We managed to find another gear after this set back which saw Luke Brown hauled to the ground, Grant stepped up to fire the spot kick home to secure victory.’