Welton Rovers 1

Torpoint Athletic 1

Welton welcomed their first Cornish visitors of the season to West Clewes with the arrival of Torpoint Athletic. Rovers took to the field with a number of youngsters in the starting line up showing the strength in depth of the squad and a debut for new signing Connor Linham.

On a breezy afternoon, it was the visitors who looked sharp and lively early on but Welton responded to this early pressure and took the game to Torpoint with Will Gould and Linham combining well and causing problems for the visitors defence.

One hurried clearence saw the ball fall to Gould and his cracking shot in reply saw Torpoint keeper Jordan Duffey pull off an outstanding save to deny Rovers the lead. This was followed up by an effort from Linham which flew wide of the target as Welton maintained their momentum. At the other end, Welton keeper Chris Blammon did well to block a shot from Sean Thomson that saw the ball eventually fly past the far post. It was end to end stuff and efforts from Joe Dali-Kemmery and Will Hailston all went close to breaking the deadlock. Then Duffey produced another top drawer save to deny Hailston as Welton continued to press.

However, with five minutes to go before the break Torpoint fullback and captain Darron Hicks raced down the right and cut into the area were he was fouled and went down and referee Williams had no hesitation in awarding the visitors a penalty. Up stepped Ryan Richards who drilled his shot straight down the middle to give the visitors the lead. Weltons heads didn’t drop and Dali-Kemmerys shot was deflected away for a corner and Lewis Russell goal bound effort saw Duffey palm the ball away at full stretch.

Welton started the second half taking the game to the visitors and attacking play from Dali-Kemmery caused panic stations at the back for Torpoint as they failed to clear the ball and Courtney Charles’ close range follow up was eventually cleared. Welton continued to press and looked good in all departments as they sought the equaliser. Weltons captain Lewis Russell aggravated an existing injury and was replaced by another youngster Ben Gundle. Torpoint were reduced to ten men when Jordan Rundle was shown a straight red card by Referee Williams following an awful challenge on Linham who fortunately was able to continue.

Welton continued to press the visitors who were now on the back foot and an overhead kick from Harry Haughton was saved by Duffey on his goal line. However Welton were not to be denied their play deserved, and in the 90th minute, the lively Linham was brought down in the area and referee Williams pointed to the spot. Will Hailston stepped up to the mark and made no mistake with his spot kick to equalise for Welton much to the delight of the ranks of the Green Army. Welton nearly nicked a winner right on the close when a lob was missed by Duffey and fell to Deli Kemmery but his reply went high over the visitors bar.

This was an excellent performance from Welton considering the strength of the opposition and the enforced changes that were made. Special mention has to be made to the following teenagers who all had outstanding games in their respective positions: Danny Carpenter, Will Ford, Joe Dali-Kemmery, Ben Gundle and Harvey Andrews. Well done lads.

Next Saturday, 26th August, it’s FA Vase action at West Clewes when Welton entertain Wells City, kick off 3pm.

Bob Allard