Patrick hits all four in Seagulls rout

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Mousehole 4, Wendron Utd 0

TOM Patrick scored all four goals as the Seagulls recorded their first league win of the season and climbed out of the bottom two in the table at the expense of a Wendron side that remain rooted to the bottom rung after this basement battle at Trungle Parc on Saturday, writes Peter Heyman .

It was the home side's first victory under Mousehole manager James Prisk, ironically in what was to prove his last game in charge (see full story, back page). Prisk was understandably delighted to have broken his duck. "I was extremely pleased, not least because we also avoided being the first side to concede a goal to Wendron this season.

"Our first win has been a long time coming, but hopefully we can now build on it, which I'm sure we can as we should already have won a couple of games that we let slip. The win should give us the confidence we need to move on."

The home side got off to a flying start when Perran Reynolds set Patrick free down the left flank and he beat a defender before cutting in and firing a fierce shot across the keeper into the far corner.

It was all Mousehole at this point with Patrick having a good shout for a penalty turned down after he was brought down as he closed in on goal, but the referee ruled the offence was committed just outside the box.

However, the Seagulls extended their lead on the half hour when neat interplay between Barrie Prowse and Jack Wing allowed Patrick to race though and chip the third over the advancing keeper.

To their credit, the visitors made a furious start to the second half, firing a long range shot against the home crossbar and going close on two occasions from goalmouth scrambles. But with the centre-back partnership of Ollie Pridham and Steve Miller in resilient mood, Wendron were unable to find a way through the home defence.

And their fate was sealed midway through the half when Prowse fed Emil Ivanov who supplied the final ball for Patrick to slide home his fourth of the afternoon. Smith twice went close to scoring against his old club, substitute Edward Jones on his debut headed narrowly wide and Reynolds was only just off target with a header from Jon Tonkin's corner as Mousehole finished the game well on top.

Mousehole: R Gendall, James Tonkin, P Reynolds, O Pridham, S Miller, B Prowse, J Wing (W Elstone 65), Jon Tonkin (J Franklin 72), M Smith, E Ivanov (E Jones 68), T Patrick.

Man of the match: Tom Patrick (Mousehole).

Prisk set to take the reins at Mousehole

Prisk, who has been running the Trungle Parc club's second team, will be assisted by last season's caretaker player manager Mark Trevail, who will also be continuing as a player.

"It's right for two people to be involved in running the team and James will be the focal point of first-team affairs, while I will be concentrating on the coaching side of things," Trevail said this week, while stressing that the proposed new management set-up still had to be approved by the club's committee.

Trevail stepped into the role of caretaker manager early last season after the resignation of Jeff Richardson and Darren Woodard for family reasons. He guided the Seagulls to a respectable 12th place finish at the end of a difficult league campaign.

"We need to strengthen the squad, particularly with the loss of our top striker Gerens James to Penzance," Trevail added. "We will also be without our keeper Ben Nurse for much of the season as he is going away to university, but we have had a lot of interest from players with South Western League experience wanting to join the club.

 "However, we will also be continuing our policy of promoting players from the second team when we feel they are ready to step up to Peninsula League level."

The Seagulls have arranged a number of pre-season friendlies, starting with an evening away game against Falmouth Town's Premier Division side at Bickland Park on Monday, July 20.