Western wins vets cup
News Archive > Sport > Western wins vets cup
THE beer was certainly flowing at the Western Inn this weekend as the pub's veterans side fought from behind to defeat ten-man Hayle Vintage Brew 2-1 to win the Cornwall veterans league cup.
Goals from Glyn Hooper and Andy Parr allowed for the St Austell-based side to cancel out Mark Rapsey's first half opener.
The Western started brightly and although Hayle shaded the first half they went close to opening the scoring on eight minutes when Adrian Street brought a save from goalkeeper Dennis Fallowfield.
Hayle then came into the game more and felt that the Western's goalkeeper Gary Penhaligon did well to stay on the field after he brought down Darren Steadman just outside the area, but with Paul Kendall covering across he was not deemed to be the last man. From the resulting free-kick John McCallum saw his effort saved well by the former Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper.
With the game flowing from end-to-end Gary Dyer and Andy Dingle both went close for the Western with Penhaligon again called into action when he produced an excellent one-on-one save from Steadman.
On the stroke of half-time though Hayle did take the lead when Steadman picked out the prolific Rapsey who managed to guide the ball past Penhaligon from close range.
After the break the Western upped their game and were handed a helping hand just before the hour when Lee Norman was sent off for a second bookable offence for dissent.
This gave the St Austell-based pub the initiative and from there on in they were on top and it was no surprise when they levelled the scores on 64 minutes.
It was St Blazey's all-time leading goalscorer Hooper who was the man to level the scores when he curled his fine 25-yard free-kick around the wall and into the far corner of the net.
Now well on top the Western managed to take the lead just four minutes later when Andy Parr turned the ball in from close range after Dyer's corner had fallen loose in the box.
Hayle continued to battle away despite their numerical advantage but the closest they came to grabbing the winner was when McCallum saw his 20-yard free-kick saved by the excellent Penhaligon.
