After an outstanding performance last weekend we very much looked forward to returning to Trewint Lane after a long absence and hoped the football on show and the new Kim's Cafe would warm us up on a cold afternoon.

Unfortunately we never quite managed to reach the high's of last weekend, but much of the credit for that goes to the visitors who were in the game from start to finish and put up a much improved performance from when we beat them 4-2 at theirs back in September.

On a high note, we were delighted to welcome back long term absentee Ted Meagor for his first start since August.

The game ebbed and flowed for the first 15 minutes with our best chance coming as the result of a first time cross from Ted Meagor on the left which was met by the on rushing Spencer Hartill down our right biu unfortunately his first time shot deflected over off the bar.

Then on 18 minutes the visitors took an unexpected lead when a speculative low drive from outside the box took a wicked deflection off the turf wrong-footing the home keeper at his near post and it skipped up and over him for 1-0.

On 34 minutes it was all level as Paul Menhinick couldn’t believe his luck as he was released by Steve Wootton and his tame shot straight at the visitors stand in keeper eluded his grasp and rolled into the corner for 1-1.

Half time: St Minver 1sts 1 - 1 Elburton Villa Reserves

Only 8 minutes in to the 2nd half and we were 2-1 up as a Steve Wootton free kick resulted in the keeper punching it straight out to Ed Green who fired home the rebound. The goal was temporarily disputed as the linesman flagged for offside for the original shot from the free kick but the player offside did not touch the ball and it was Ed Green who fired home, so the goal was correctly awarded by the referee.

Now we hoped that we could relax and play the fluent football we had produced last week. Unfortunately not but we still created some guilt edged chances that we were either wasteful with or the visiting keeper made a quality save.

The visitors started to pile on the pressure and went to 3 at the back to increase their attacking options. We managed to withstand the pressure and looked to be seeing the game out until a rather controversial free kick was awarded by the referee which resulted in the visitors equaliser.

What looked like a perfectly fair shoulder to shoulder contact where the St Minver player was the stronger and as the visiting player bounced off, no one of both the coaching teams made any comments (apart from well won), the ref blew for a free kick. Very disappointing when a player wins a challenge in a determined and fair way to only be punished for it.

From the subsequent free kick the visitors swung in a quality free kick to the far post, our defender slipped at the wrong moment and the visiting player rose well to loop his header in to the top corner for 2-2.

We attacked immediately from the kick off and had 2 fantastic opportunities to put the game to bed. The 1st fell to Ben Beesley as the ball dropped to him on the edge of the box, he hit his shot well in to what looked like an unguarded net, but somehow the defender threw himself in front of the shot and it ricocheted over the bar. A certain match saving challenge.

And just before full time Steve Wootton weaved his way through the visiting defence and when one on one with the keeper unfortunately lifted his right foot shot over the keeper and the bar at the same time.

Full time: St Minver 1sts 2 - 2 Elburton Villa Reserves

As the whistle went the frustration was obvious but credit to the visitors who stuck to their task and put in some great last ditch tackles and saves to earn a deserved point for themselves.

Next weekend we hope we are 3rd time lucky as we play hosts to our friends from Callington in the 2nd round of the SWAZ Teamwear League Cup Round 2 with a 14:00 kick off. The previous 2 attempts were midweek games away at Callington that were both rained off so the fixture then switched to us.

The squad