SWPL INSIDER: Helston, Saltash, St Austell, Bodmin and Mousehole in top five

'Top-five' tussles

The last SWPL Insider made reference to the emergence of a 'big five' in the league, who had begun to break away from the other 15 teams in the division.

That trend shows little sign of letting up despite the good form of sixth-placed Camelford, who still remain six points behind fifth-placed Mousehole despite having won their last five games.

It means that the games between the sides in the top five are taking on added importance, with Helston Athletic's game at home to Mousehole on Wednesday night the latest top-five tussle.

Wednesday's game at Kellaway Park was the seventh between the current top five this season, and the table below shows how the teams have fared so far against their title rivals.

The Seagulls lead the way despite last night's 3-1 defeat at Helston, who played their first game against a fellow top-five side last night.

St Austell, along with Mousehole, have played the most, but the league leaders have only taken two points from their four games.

The landscape of the table could change markedly over the next few weeks, with Helston to face Saltash, St Austell and Bodmin in successive matches at the start of November, while Bodmin and Saltash will also have met before that time.

Going goal crazy

One thing the new restructure has allowed for is goals. The wider cross-section of abilities, given the top teams in last season's SWPL Premier are now in the same league as ones in the bottom half of last season's Division 1 West, has made for some very large scorelines.

To date, there have been 130 league matches, of which 33 have been won by four goals or more - a remarkable 25.38% of games.

But it's not just about one-sided games, there have been plenty of games where both teams have been finding the back of the net. Forty-one games have seen at least six goals scored, a fraction under a third of all games, while 12 of those saw both teams score at least three goals.

St Dennis are the team to watch if you want to see goals, with their 13 games seeing a combined 75 goals for and against the Saints, an average of 5.77 per game. Saltash United are just behind them at 5.75 per game, with 69 combined goals from the Ashes' 12 games.

Porthleven are at the other end of the scale, with the 40 goals resulting from their 11 games meaning an average of 3.64 per game, a figure well below joint-second lowest sides Newquay and St Blazey, who have each seen 4.08 goals per game.

Saltash's Kimberley Stadium is the place to be to see goals, with 36 goals in six games at the ground totalling a league-high of six goals per game. Newquay's Mount Wise Stadium is home to the lowest average, with their 27 goals from eight home games making for an average of 3.38 per game.

Up for the (Senior) Cup

The 22 Cornish teams across the SWPL (The 20 teams in SWPL Premier West plus Torpoint Athletic and Millbrook) now know the ten other teams that will join them in next month's Cornwall Senior Cup third round.

The premier cup competition in the county has undergone a slight format tweak this season, with the lower-ranked sides having to go through two early rounds before taking on the big boys in round three.

The ten teams to have successfully navigated rounds one and two are: Mullion, Perranporth, Penryn Athletic, St Dominick, Hayle, St Ives Town, Pendeen Rovers, St Cleer, Illogan RBL and St Day.

Seven of the ten teams are from the St Piran League West, with two from the East Cornwall Premier League and one from the Combination League.

Top of most clubs' list of ones to avoid will likely be Penryn Athletic, who have won all 11 games they have played this season.

The third round draw should be made in the coming days, with ties due to take place on Saturday, November 9.

Cornish duels in the Vase

Best of luck to the five Cornish teams – Camelford, Falmouth Town, Helston Athletic, Saltash United and Torpoint Athletic – in this weekend's FA Vase first round proper.

We are already guaranteed to have three Duchy sides in next month's second round, with St Austell beginning their campaign at that stage.

The other two will come from two all-Cornwall derbies, with Helston hosting Falmouth and Saltash visiting Torpoint.

That is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether you are a glass half-full or glass half-empty kind of person. On the one hand, you are guaranteed two Cornish teams in the next round, but on the other hand you miss the chance to have all four go through.

That being said, hopefully whoever does make it through can fly the flag for Cornwall and go deep in the competition.

Season in numbers

There have been 130 of the scheduled 380 games played so far, meaning about 34.2 per cent of the season's fixtures have been completed.

Those 130 games have yielded 620 goals - an average of 4.77 per game. Three hundred and twenty-nine of those goals have been scored by the home team, with the away team netting 291.

On average, the home side scores 2.5 goals per game, while the visitors net 2.2 per game, which, once you round to the nearest whole number, gives us an average scoreline of 3-2 to the home side.

There have been 21 draws and 109 victories, with the home team winning 54 and the away team winning 55.

The highest-scoring league game is Helston Athletic's 11-0 win over Penzance, although the Magpies did beat St Dennis 9-3 in the Cornwall Charity Cup.

Helston's win is also the largest victory. The largest away win is Saltash's 9-0 victory at Wadebridge Town.

The highest-scoring single-goal victory is Falmouth Town's 5-4 win at home to Dobwalls.

The highest-scoring draw was a 4-4 draw between St Dennis and Dobwalls. There has been one goalless draw - between Falmouth Town and Mousehole.

The top-scoring team is St Austell, who have netted 60 goals from their 16 matches. The top scorer is Helston's Mark Goldsworthy, who has scored 20 league goals.