St. Newlyn East began their Junior Cup campaign with a “job done” away at always-tricky Gorran. Struggling with numbers due to player unavailability and commitments the Saints travelled with just 12 men to find Gorran’s pitch in very poor condition which resulted Influential defender Ross Emery suffering an injury in the warm up which he fortunately managed to shrug off in time for kick off.

Playing downhill and with the wind at their backs the visitors started brightly, and Callum Faulkner opened his account after 9 minutes when he met Matt Toms’ pinpoint pass to slot pass the home goalkeeper. Sloppy defending on the quarter-hour mark saw Gorran equalise from the right wing following a long hopeful high ball over the Newlyn defence.

Newlyn regained the lead 4 minutes later with Toms blasting home after a Brodie Mitchell lay-off, but the Saints self-destructed again in the blink of an eye when Gaskell took advantage of a mix up in the Saints defence to redress the balance once more. Faulkner forced a fine save from the Gorran ‘keeper on 22 minutes as Newlyn regained their shape, and it was Martyn Probert – struggling with illness, who collected another Mitchell pass to fire home and gain the advantage.

Controversy on 34 minutes came when Jack Thompson was viscously brought down with a high boot/elbow combination – a foul that took him out of the remainder of the match – yet the official was seemingly blind-sided as no card was forthcoming. However, justice was served 2 minutes later when Faulkner got his second to double the lead. Mitchell then rounded off the frenetic first half with a sublime pass into the net after three failed lunging challenges on him by the struggling Gorran defence.

Three goals up and the Saints’ needed to control the 2nd half especially considering they were playing uphill on an increasingly difficult pitch into the wind. They did a good job of this and practically dominated the remaining 45 minutes with young Lucas Moses again producing an assured display at right-back, although Gorran had some speculative shots from distance that Brooks saved well from.

Toms claimed his brace early on with a fine 20-yard drive. Mitchell’s ball delivery-machine worked again as he found Sam Lawrence who produced a deft chip over the goalie from a very narrow angle and Faulkner achieved his first hat-trick in a Saints’ shirt with 15 minutes left as he headed home from close range off a corner kick.

Newlyn produced a comprehensive win in tricky conditions against sturdy opposition and very short on their own numbers. Next week they return to near full-strength and to their Cargoll Rd home as they face Polperro Reserves in the Duchy KO Cup – 2.30pm kick off.

THE PHEASANT INN MAN OF THE MATCH – MATT TOMS