WL. Brixham AFC V Falmouth Town AFC 29th July 2023

[Dave]

Match Referee Neil Lane
Referee Assistants Edwin Bradshaw & Nigel Lawrence

Final Score Brixham AFC 0 Falmouth Town AFC 0

Attendance 217

Match Preview

The highlight for me of the 2022/2024 season was Brixham AFC being crowned as the champions of the Peninsula East and winning promotion to the Western League.

Yes folks Western League football is returning to Wall Park and I can not think of a club who deserve it more than Brixham AFC.

In the 1976-77 season Brixham United Joined the Western League, in the newly reformed Division One. They completed five seasons in total with their highest position in the table at the end of the season being in tenth place. Their lowest ever finish was in sixteenth place, so they did reasonably well.

The five seasons stats

SEASON LEAGUE P W D L F A P POS

1976-77 WEST-1 34 9 8 17 45 77 35 12/18
1977-78 WEST-1 36 11 9 16 62 79 41 * 12/19
1978-79 WEST-1 36 15 5 16 55 61 50 10/19
1979-80 WEST-1 42 14 9 19 60 70 37 16/22
1980-81 WEST-1 36 11 5 20 50 70 27 14/19

Their Manger was John Cunningham, Dick Edwards was the Player/ Commercial manager. Paul Edwards, Wayne Drake, Dave Kennedy and Andy Provan were some of their star players.

Every other week they would have to hire a coach from Burtons to go to away games such as Swanage, or Radstock, or Melksham. Other interesting teams they faced were Torquay United Reserves, Yeovil Town Reserves, Bournemouth Reserves, Bath City Reserves and Chippenham Town.

But that ended up being the biggest problem for the club as far more money was going out than ever coming in and at the end of the 1980/1981 they had no choice but to leave the Western league.

Many of the players left the club; a good number of them went and played for Foxhole and the club was on its knees. Thanks to support from many well known local football people, the club was allowed to join the sixth division of the South Devon Football League.They struggled to put out a team for their very first game of the season; the local shopkeeper was player-manager. The treasurer played, so did the secretary and so did the fixtures secretary.

1981/1982 Team Photo

It shows just how far this club has come. United joined forces with Brixham Villa in June 2012 and renamed the club Brixham AFC. The good news is the club will not change; it will remain the welcoming family club it always has been and that is why I consider it to be a very special club.

What Do We Know About Falmouth?

The club was established in 1949 and joined the Cornwall Senior League for the 1950–51. The club were the first Cornish team to reach the first round proper of the FA Cup, which they have done on three occasions; 1962–63, 1967–68 and 1969–70. In 1951 they were founder members of the South Western League.

The club went on to win four consecutive South Western League titles between 1970–71 and 1973–74, also winning the League Cup and Cornwall Senior Cup in 1970–71, a season in which they remained unbeaten in all three competitions. The club then moved up to the Western League in 1974. The club's first season in the league saw them win the league and League Cup double without losing a game. They then won the league for the next three seasons, marking eight consecutive league titles This included a 58-match unbeaten stretch in the league that saw them go unbeaten in the Western League until January 1976. In 1983 the club withdrew from the league due to increased travelling costs, but re-joined in 1985. The club went on to win back-to-back league titles in 1985–86 and 1986–87 and again in 1988–89 and 1989–90. Further league titles followed in 1991–92, 1996–97 and 1999–2000.

When the South Western League merged with the Devon County League to form the South West Peninsula League in 2007, the club were placed in the Premier Division of the new league. Following league reorganisation at the end of the 2018–19 season, Falmouth were placed in the Premier Division West. In 2021–22 they won the Cornwall Senior Cup and were Premier Division West champions, earning promotion to the Premier Division of the Western League.

Certainly a baptism of fire for Brixham in their opening game of the season, but Brixham AFC showed last season they can beat anyone on the day. A game I am sure will be well supported and one I am so looking forward to.

Have you joined the Davesworld South Devon Football Facebook Group yet?

www.facebook.com/groups/837956497234326

You can now also follow Davesworld on twitter @ DavesworldR1

Match report.


If ever a draw felt like a win, then it must have for all the Brixham players today. Each and every one of them should be so proud how they played today when everything seemed to go against them. This was not a dirty game by any stretch of the imagination and yet we saw three players sent off. I will be honest and say I completely disagreed with the two Brixham sending off’s, but more of that later.

So impressed with how the pitch looked today, it was not that many years ago it seemed to be all weeds, now it is lush grass and a perfect playing surface. A group of Falmouth fans complete with a large bass drum sung Sweet Caroline for us all before the kick-off and also during the match itself. It all made for a good atmosphere inside the ground.

The match referee blew up for the start of the match and there was not a lot to choose between the two teams early on. Brixham’s Aaron Wellington had the first shot on goal from the edge of the Falmouth box, but his effort flew over the crossbar.

There was a big shout at the Falmouth end for a penalty, it clearly wasn’t and the ref waved play on. While Falmouth was attacking at pace and looked good going forward, they were unable to find those killer passes that lead to goals.

Brixham’s captain Kieran Parkin was the first player to have his name taken when he committed a foul close to the touchline. One of those handbag moments then followed that did not last too long.

Rhys Faller brought a Falmouth player down just outside of the box, but the resulting free kick came to nothing. Falmouth then won another free kick outside the Brixham box and this time went straight for goal. But the taker was unable to keep his effort down and the ball flew over the crossbar.

Charlie Johansen then received his first yellow card of the match. He had the ball robbed off his toes and then brought down from behind the player who was going away with the ball. Maybe a word in his ear might have been enough but the referee showed Charlie the yellow.

Ben Aldous hit a very long range effort at the Falmouth goal that was not that far over. Falmouth’s James Swan had a really good chance to put his side in from a ball played into the Brixham, box from the left hand side. He ended up with a free header on goal but he headed the ball straight into Grant Fishers arms, either side and it would have been in.

Arron Wellington hit a shot from the edge of the Falmouth box just wide of the right hand post and then came the first red card. Charlie Johansen was sprinting and saw a Falmouth player in his eye. He put both feet on the ground to stop himself. Both legs slipped out under him and yes he did make contact with the player. BUT there was no intent and it was a slip and no more, yet the referee failed to take into account what had actually happened and sent Charlie off. This was just before the end of the first half, but was going to make things even harder for Brixham in the second half.

The match referee blew up for the end of the first half and the players certainly deserved to have a break after all the effort that was put into the first half. The game still at nil nil, could Falmouth make the extra man count in the second half?

It was certainly backs to the wall for Brixham in the second half, Falmouth pilled on the pressure with out really threatening the Brixham goal. They wasted a number of corners hitting the ball out of play, or hitting crosses to long and behind for a goal kick.

Falmouth’s Jack Webber had a good chance when the ball came into the Brixham box from the right hand side, but his headed effort flew over the bar.

It was mostly all one way traffic and at this stage only one team looked likely to score. To add to Brixham’s woes Falmouth were awarded a penalty. I was too far away to see what it was given for, but the referee blew up straight away.

I felt for Brixham at this stage, down in my opinion to ten men unfairly and now Falmouth had a gilt edged chance to go in front. But I was forgetting who was in goal for Brixham, the one and only Grant Fisher. The pen was fired low and close to the left hand post, Grant was down and made a save any prem goal keeper would have been proud of.

Josh Parry upfront on his own for Brixham was doing his best every time a long ball was pumped up to him. But he was always out numbered. He did come close when a ball found him just outside the Falmouth box. But the keeper had come a long way out and Josh just failed to get the ball past him.

Grant Fisher was then booked for time wasting, I did not think he was taking any longer to get the ball back into play than any other keeper, but he had been warned earlier.

Then came the second and third red card of the match. Once again a little to far from the incident but Oliver Walker committed a foul, at first it looked as if the referee was only going to be giving a free kick. But then he showed Oliver a straight red card.

Just after the foul there was a little bit of pushing but it lasted only seconds. The referee looked to get the game underway but then noticed his linesman waving his flag at him. Remember the referee was right there at the point of the foul and only saw one offence worth punishing. But after a chat with the lineman he walked over to Kieran Parkin and showed him the red card.

While I try to remain neutral when covering a game, I felt a rush of anger come over me with what I had just witnessed. The game seemed to be on longer that it should have done and then to my surprise he told the Falmouth bench there was still six minutes to play.

Not to worry time for Grant Fisher to pull off another top class save as Falmouth tried to nick the points. Right at the very end a shot crashed against the Brixham left hand post and stayed out, yep Brixham sure deserved to have some luck in the game.

As I said a great performance by the Brixham lads against a very good side. The first of many points on the board this season and the players should fear no one in this league. a great entertaining game to watch as I knew it would be.


Please sir can I have some more