Following their defeat the previous weekend the Saints travelled to in-form Veryan who had won five of their last six fixtures knowing that nothing other than a win would do – and that is exactly what they achieved.

A poor playing surface did not bode well for attractive football, but what was produced was a skilful, combative match which saw Newlyn return to a more physical and direct way of playing that had been lacking in recent outings.

The opening exchanges were even as both sides struggled to come to terms with the uneven surface. It was the visitors that struck first just over 10 minutes in after a Ross London free-kick was not cleared by the hosts and Elliott Powell slammed home a low drive into the net. Newlyn controlled the midfield with a vocal captain Jack Thompson solid at its heart – however Veryan were always a threat on the counter-attack and ‘keeper Zefran Counter was called into action on several occasions as well as seeing several shots blasted high and wide of his goal.

Newlyn’s second goal came on the half-hour mark when a fine move saw London find Powell once again, whose deft pass was met by Brodie Mitchell’s boot to send the ball low past the diving ‘keeper. The remining 15 minutes were marred by a succession of poor Veryan challenges as the hosts lost self-control. Mitchell appeared to have secured the points as the half ended with second that took a deflection to beat the home goalkeeper.

Unfortunately, Newlyn started the second half lethargically as if thinking the game was already over and Sam Bullen for Veryan found the Newlyn defence open up before him and he slotted home an easy goal in the opening minute of the half. This spurred the visitors on and just 4 minutes later Powell won a fierce challenge and passed to new signing Ryan Pooley whose fierce drive bulged the net from 25 yards to open his account for the club on his debut.

Young Lucas Moses almost scored with his first touch after coming on as a second half substitute, rising high at the far post to head over but was flagged as offside. Veryan continued their counter-attacking style but finding the visitors strong in defence – Steve Harris and Elliot Dodd having a busy time of it at the back. A worrying ten minutes of slack play by the Saints on seventy five minutes was duly punished by Bullen again with six minutes left as he hit a ball that beat Counter into the top corner.

The game’s best move was left to the last minute of play as Powell held the ball up well and offloaded to Matt Toms on the half-way line. Toms went into overdrive as he zipped past three Veryan defenders along the wing on a direct run to goal and topped off his 50-yard sprint with a great shot to seal the 3-points.

Newlyn East returned to 6th spot in the table with this gritty performance and ought to go into this weeks’ KMD Cup clash with table-topping St Mawgan in good spirits.

THE PHEASANT INN MAN OF THE MATCH – RYAN POOLEY