By Graham Hambly and Kevin Marriott

WESTERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION (TUESDAY)

Ivybridge Town 2 St Austell 1

STRIKER Connor Rush scored one goal and created another as Ivybridge earned a home win over St Austell at Erme Valley on Tuesday evening

.Rush opened the scoring with his third goal of the season in the 19th minute as Ivybridge battled their way to a 1-0 interval lead.

He then supplied a brilliant through ball for Sean Thomson to run clear of the visiting defence, before rounding goalkeeper Andy Collings and firing into the vacant net on 55 minutes.

Any hopes that Ivybridge were going to have an easy passage were dashed four minutes later when St Austell pulled a goal back with substitute Adam Carter scoring following a right-wing corner by Max Gilbert.

This was Carter’s first appearance since damaging his calf muscle a month ago and a huge boost to St Austell to have him available earlier than anticipated.

The remainder of the game was played at a fast pace with Ivybridge creating a number of opportunities, but they failed to find the necessary finishing touch to hit the goals their attacking play deserved, meaning a nervy six minutes of injury-time which they negotiated.

The result left the Saints third from bottom with nine defeats from 12 games, and when you look at their squad which was improved over the summer with experienced Step Five players following promotion, they should be doing far better than this.

Injuries have disrupted the Lillywhites’ start to life at a higher level, but now that most are back and available, things should start to settle down and improve.

ST AUSTELL: Andy Collings, Jake Shaw, Martyn Duff, Tom Whipp, Ollie Brokenshire, Callum Watson, Max Gilbert, Matt Searle, Liam Eddy, George Marris, Ben Collins. Subs: Adam Carter, Jamie Gilbert, Sol Wilson.