Match Preview – Mousehole vs Wimborne

 

This will be the first time that Wimborne have made the 200 mile trip to south of Penzance to face The Seagulls. The Magpies are heading west on Friday.

 

 

Only the second Cornish team to play at Step 4, Jake Ash’s boys are having a great first season at this level after winning the Western Premier League in 2022-23. They began the league season with a 6-game unbeaten run, and were continuously in the division’s top 5 until early November. Their results weren’t so consistent after that, culminating in a jittery January when they drew two and lost two of their four games. However, they’ve followed that up with a fabulous February, winning all three of their fixtures against teams in the division’s top six: Frome 3-2 at home (The Seagulls were 3-0 ahead after 53 minutes); Cribbs 2-1 away; and, last Saturday, Evesham 2-1 away. Hayden Turner scored four in those games, and Mitchel Beardmore two. Clearly they are a team in good form.

 

As a result they currently sit 9th in the table with a W10 D6 L8 GF 50 GA 39 record; at Trungle Parc it’s W5 D2 L2 – average attendance 212. Those five home wins, in chronological order, were: Paulton (3-0), Willand (4-0), Bemerton (3-1), Westbury (4-0), and on Feb 3rd Frome (3-2); the draws were with Bashley (2-2) and Larkhall (1-1), and the losses to Evesham (1-3) and Yate (0-1). The Seagulls are in the chase for a play-off spot – they’re just two points adrift of fifth-placed Yate but with four games in hand. This will be Mousehole’s first home game for four weeks – fixtures against Melksham and Bideford were both postponed because the pitch failed inspections.

 

In the reverse fixture between The Magpies and The Seagulls, on Armistice Day in front of 636 spectators, when the young bugler gave an unforgettable performance, the visitors scored early and late through Jack Bray-Evans and Hayden Turner, but three in thirteen second-half minutes by Connor Cocklin, Harry Morgan and Lewis Beale bagged us the points.

 

 

Wimborne returned to the top of the tree with a 2-1 win over Melksham on Tuesday, a sixth game unbeaten. Their record is now W16 D6 L4 GF 54 GA 29; on their travels the record is W6 D3 L4. They’ve won their last three away fixtures: Paulton 2-0, Manor Farm 2-1, and Yate 2-0. Manager Sills will again be without Jez Bedford, Connor Cocklin, and Sam Roberts, but all three have been at New Cuthbury working on their fitness this week. Harry Morgan and Cam Munn are in goal-scoring form, and Matty Burrows seemed unstoppable on Tuesday to be named “man of the match”.

 

 

Mousehole are a proper footballing team in good form, who need the points; Wimborne are a proper footballing team in good form, who need the points. This fixture has all the ingredients of being an absolute cracker. Can you get down there to cheer the boys on? If not, Kyran will be there to keep us up-to-date on social media.

 

It’s a long way to go for a league game, but spare a thought for the players, officials and supporters of Mousehole – they have to make eighteen such journeys!

 

Mousehole’s ground: Trungle Parc, Paul, Penzance, Cornwall  TR19 6AZ

Admission: adults £10; concessions £5; Under 16s free.

 

Safe journeys everyone. Weather forecast: light cloud; 7oC; 10% chance of rain.