A sun drenched King George V playing field hosted Lostwithiel's first home game of the season and their first game for 5 weeks! A couple of absentees for the home side included in form winger Ben Wilkinson and player manager Graham Rule who was nursing a broken rib. There was also the loss of two young players in Bayley Phillips and Tom Grylls who had both left for University so the squad was used to the maximum today with Josh Cook making his first start for 2 and a half years! St Newlyn East also had several missing from their squad for todays game.

This was a cup game that didn't disappoint as both sides competed well on a difficult playing surface which despite being cut was still quite long, bobbly and very heavy on the legs.

The home side enjoyed the majority of the possession in the first half although clear cut chances were few and far between for either side, although the lone St Newlyn East striker was quite lively on the counter attack. With the game still 0-0 at half time the Lostwithiel side sensed they'd have enough quality to topple their higher league opponents in the second half by continuing to defend well and keep playing they way they were but to be more clinical in the final third.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first although you could see some frustration in the away side as they struggled to create any problems for the home side. Eventually the breakthrough inevitably came as Lee Ashton used good pace to evade some challenges and fire the ball low past the oncoming keeper for 1-0. Lostwithiel had their deserved lead and continued to press and were soon rewarded with a second as Lee Ashton once again latched on to a through ball and slotted the ball into the far corner with his right foot this time to make it 2-0. St Newlyn East looked deflated but to their credit they had an immediate response after a long floated ball down the right-hand side eluded the head of the full back and the winger cut inside to get a decent shot away only to be parried out by the goalkeeper into the path of the forward who duly accepted the gift and reduced the arrears to 2-1. The away side had some renewed interest in the game but were unable to find an equaliser which would have taken the game to extra time. The game ended 2-1 and on balance a fair result and Lostwithiel progress to meet Polperro in Round 2.

A good bunch of lads at St Newlyn East who all shook hands after the game, however it was disappointing that none of the team came back to the Kings Arms pub for the after match food and beverages! I'm guessing they just wanted to get home after suffering defeat but they certainly missed out on the great hospitality at the pub.

Report by Ryan Morcom