Falmouth Town 0, Tavistock 7

FALMOUTH suffered their heaviest ever defeat at Bickland Park in this opening day massacre in the South Western Peninsula League Premier on Saturday.

Their previous record home defeat was at Ashfield in the 1953-54 season, when they lost 9-0 to Barnstaple Town Reserves in the South-Western League.

This was also Tavistock's biggest ever win over Falmouth in over 100 League and cup games since 1952-53.

Former Penryn Athletic quartet Ollie Moody, Ryan Martt, Luke Brabyn and David Broglino all made their debuts for the hosts, but they were powerless to stop the ruthless defending champions.

It was Tavistock’s own debutant Dan Sullivan who opened the scoring when he rolled the ball past Ryan Barnes in the fifth minute.

Sullivan almost had his and Tavistock’s second on 20 minutes when he rounded Barnes and shot at goal, but Tom Annear got back to superbly clear the ball off the line.

Town grew in confidence as the half wore on, with Brabyn, Broglino and Harry Clarke all coming close to grabbing a deserved equaliser.

But they were dealt a sucker punch in the 34th minute, when an attempted clearance rebounded to the feet of Luke Brown, who tapped in from six yards out.

The half-time break proved to be ineffective as Josh Grant rounded Barnes and slotted home to increase the away side’s lead within three minutes of the restart.

The hosts rallied and they thought they had a goal back when Marcello Jones squared the ball for Broglino to score on 59 minutes, but it was ruled out for offside.

Tavistock began to show their class as the game entered the final 20 minutes, with Jack Crago and Sullivan scoring the fourth and fifth of the afternoon within minutes of each other.

Falmouth’s hopes were well and truly over by now, but the visitors added further gloss to a tough afternoon as Crago added his second before substitute Rikki Shepherd completed the scoring.

Packet Pick: Marcello Jones – showed plenty of skill, linked well with team mates and constantly pressured the defence.

Falmouth: R Barnes, A Frier, O Moody (W Trew 74), T Annear, J Cooper (c), R Martt, L Brabyn (T Cooke 74), H Clarke, J Annear, D Broglino (J Webber 74), M Jones.

Tavistock: J Ord, B Cross (J Miller 52m), J Robbins, R Swain, L Daw (capt),W Daw, L Brown, D Hallett, D Sullivan (R Shepherd 70m+), J Grant (T Elliot 70m+), J Crago.

Falmouth visit Godolphin Atlantic on Wednesday night, before hosting Ivybridge Town on Saturday.