By Kevin Marriott at Vogue Park,and David Sillifant
SWPL PREMIER WEST (SATURDAY)
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DOBWALLS showed another side of their character on Saturday as they fought back from a nightmare start to take all three points away from Vogue Park.Having defended heroically a week before to keep a clean sheet against leaders Newquay, the men from Lantoom found themselves 2-0 down after 23 minutes to two well-taken goals by Wade Brown.But they somehow hauled themselves off the ground with skipper James Forrest reducing the arrears five minutes later with a shot from 15 yards which took a deflection on the way to the net.And it was 2-2 seven minutes before half-time when substitute Kai Burrell, only just on the field in place of the injured Charlie Mahoney, blasted a close range shot into the roof of the net via the underside of the bar.Once level, Dobwalls became the dominant force and their cause was helped when St Day had midfield man Josh Margetts sent off just before the break for two yellow card offences within a minute.And it was no surprise when the visitors swept ahead three minutes into the second half when Charlie Castlehouse finished off from close range after a mazy run through St Day’s defence by winger Kaycee Ogwu.Credit to the referee, who played the advantage as Ogwu was fouled at the start of his run but stayed on his feet and eventually laid on the pass for Castlehouse to score.St Day were forced to attack in a bid to find an equaliser but that left gaping holes at the back and Dobwalls, and Ogwu in particular, exploited them time and time again.Several opportunities to kill off the game were missed before substitute Dan Tate found the back of the net from 10 yards two minutes into time added on after more Ogwu magic on the left byline. Victory moved Dobwalls up to third place in the table and on the evidence of their last two performances they are there on merit.
Reflecting on the game, Dobwalls joint boss Ben Washam said: “When you’re 2-0 down you think it might not be your day, but I always believed that our gameplan and strength in-depth would come through.
“The first 20 minutes were nowhere near good enough and I was pretty frustrated with that, but Charlie (Mahoney) had to go off injured and that played into our hands a bit.
“Kai (Burrell) came on and scored and after that we took control, but at 3-2 you’re always a bit nervy.
“But we got the fourth and we’re delighted with the fightback, but we’re not getting carried away.
“We’ll take one game at a time but as I’ve said before, we shouldn’t be where we are.
“We’ve put together a really good squad of players that are competing towards the top, and the average is just 20.”
Dobwalls have a busy this week.
Wednesday sees them visit Wadebridge Town in the Cornwall Senior Cup (7.45pm), before Saturday’s vital league clash at fellow high-flyers Wendron United (3pm) who thrashed Liskeard Athletic 5-2 on Saturday.
Washam said: “We’ll be resting some players definitely on Wednesday as I think the Cornwall Senior Cup has lost it’s magic since the big hitters have come back in.
“But we have a good squad and will go down there and see what happens.
“With Wendron we know they’re a good team, particularly at home, and have probably the best front three in the league.
“They battered us in the Vase down there, but we’re really looking forward to testing ourselves down there.”