St Newlyn East dropped out of the Cornwall Senior Cup on Saturday after a spirited effort away at St Piran high-flyers Polperro.

The Saints travelled to this 2nd Round tie still with an injury-depleted squad, but were able to put out a strong side nonetheless welcoming back Jamie Seery, Lee Paxton and Brodie Mitichell to the squad again. The opening half-hour was dominated by the visitors as they controlled the middle of the park with ease and did not receive a single shot in anger from the hosts.

Several chances went begging at the front - most notably an open-goal miss from Paxton that left the visiting fans aghast when his shot struck the base of the post when he seemed certain to score. On 26 minutes he redeemed himself though, when Seery forced a superb header at the parrying ‘keeper – Paxton latched onto the loose ball and drove home with gusto. 6 minutes of total dominance followed and the Saints were eying up a 3rd Round dream.

Just after the half-hour saw a horrible moment when ‘keeper Counter brought down an onrushing striker to concede a soft penalty. Converting the penalty gave new life to the hosts but the Saints managed to control the remainder up to the break creating more and more chances.

The 2nd half restarted and just 2 minutes in and on their first attack Polperro struck early as Newlyn were sluggish out of the blocks. A hopeful long ball down the middle of the pitch caught Newlyn’s rear guard by surprise and Robbie Spencer was first to react and able to give the home side the lead.

Newlyn thought they should have been awarded a penalty themselves half way through the second half when a Polperro defender controlled the ball with his hand before clearing but the referee waved away Newlyn’s protests.

Newlyn battled hard but had to chase an equaliser with the clock ticking down. Changing to a more attacking formation allowed the hosts more space when attacking and they scored tow late goals past Counter in the last 3 minutes of the game to put the result beyond doubt.

This was always going to be a tough ask for the recent-promoted Saints, but they are certainly proving that they deserve to be competing at the higher standard of the ECPL this season. This weekend they host St Minver in league action at Cargoll Rd.

MAN OF THE MATCH – Harry Mugford