St Newlyn East continued their recent good form with a win at Boscastle – a ground the Saints have always found difficult to secure points at. Newlyn travelled to the game without several key players that included Ross and Owen London, Callum Faulkner, Martyn Probert and Josh Dingle who has been outstanding at right back this season but was unavailable due to illness. However, they were bolstered by the inclusion of new signing Cameron Buchanan and their regular left back Will Perry who was returning from injury.

Newlyn started brightly and their passing and movement was proving difficult for Boscastle to deal with in the opening exchanges. However, Boscastle grew into the match and it was somewhat against the run of play when Newlyn opened the scoring on 15 minutes. Ross Emery collected the ball at right back and passed a pin-point ball inside the defender for Lee Paxton to race clear and calmly finish low to the keeper’s left into the corner of the net.

Newlyn seemed slightly out of sorts and were unable to impose themselves on a battling Boscastle side who seemed quicker to the ball and were winning individual duels but a moment of brilliance from Sam Lawrence doubled Newlyn’s advantage on 39 minutes. With his back to goal a pass was fired into him and Lawrence flicked it around the defender and spun past him the other way before taking two touches and firing home.

The second half saw Newlyn finally settle and start to dominate play and possession. Spencer Gaylard was introduced as a second half substitute for Newlyn on 55 minutes and he scored his first goal of the season just over 10 minutes later when he hammered home from the edge of the penalty area. Zef Counter was forced to make a spectacular double save to prevent Boscastle from pulling a goal back but was well protected by the rocklike Jamie Seery and Al Titterington at the heart of Newlyn’s defence.

Buchanan and Harry Mugford were working well together and their dynamic performance in midfield allowed Newlyn’s attack to press Boscastle deeper into their half and increase the pressure on the home side’s goal.

With the excellent Paxton and Brodie Mitchell working well up front it only seemed a matter of time before another goal came and Mitchell thought he had scored but his long-range effort struck the cross bar after 58 minutes.

Captain Mitchell was not to be denied though and on 80 minutes he completed an excellent second half display from Newlyn when he raced clear and rounded the keeper to score his customary goal.

The result allowed Newlyn to complete a league double over Boscastle without conceding a goal and moves them up to third in the Premier Division but they face a tough match on Saturday when they entertain league leaders Gunnislake at Cargoll Road in a 2.30pm kick off.

The Pheasant Inn Man-of-the-Match: Lee Paxton