By Kevin Marriott at Poltair Park

WESTERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION (SATURDAY)

St Austell 2 Barnstaple 1

THERE was palpable relief around Poltair at the final whistle on Saturday as St Austell ended a run of five defeats in six by beating second-placed BarnstapleTown.

It was a deserved three points for the Lillywhites, who made the perfect start with a Liam Eddy goal after 65 seconds and then worked hard to secure the win with a superb strike by Matt Searle just after the hour.

Performances have been okay in recent weeks but with eight defeats in their previous 10 league games, St Austell were beginning to feel the pressure in what is a results business.

And having lost 4-2 at Barnstaple seven days earlier despite playing well, Chris Knight’s side knew this fixture wouldn’t be easy.

They needed a good start and Eddy, who has found a new lease of life in recent weeks, provided it after just 65 seconds. He made his presence felt as Barnstaple keeper Jim Weeks and a defender made a mess of trying to bring the ball under control at the edge of the penalty area, leaving the striker with an empty net to roll the ball in to.

Barnstaple responded strongly and were level in the sixth minute with a good finish from Ryan Keates after St Austell failed to clear.

Eddy came desperately close to doubling the Lillywhites’ lead after 27 minutes when he ran from just inside his own half to latch onto a clearance before sliding the ball past Weeks and towards the net before a defender ran back to clear.

The second half started similarly to the first with St Austell pressing hard, and again Eddy gave them their best chance of scoring again when he ran onto a Searle pass and his thunderous left foot volley had to be tipped away by Weeks.

The winning goal eventually came from workaholic midfield man Searle, who unleashed a stunning shot from the edge of the penalty area to give Weeks no chance.

Barnstaple pushed for an equaliser but St Austell held on for a precious victory.

By David Sillifant

WESTERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION ROUND-UP

ST BLAZEY slipped to second bottom in the table after losing 2-0 at home to Nailsea and Tickenham on Saturday.

The defeat, their eighth in nine games, was enough for the Blazey board to act as they dismissed joint bosses Brad Richardson and Andrew Moon soon after.

Once again the performance wasn’t bad from the hosts, in fact they created plenty of chances, but the old adage of not taking them came to bite them as goals from Brad Probert and Lucas Vowles in the 29th and 57th minute respectively, proved enough.

Saltash United made it 15 league games played already, but earned a crucial 2-1 success at mid-table Brislington to move eight points clear of three sides on nine points.

The Ashes headed up to Bristol with just three substitutes but were able to welcome back the influential Tom Payne in midfield.

And he got an assist just five minutes in when the recalled Hayden Greening tapped home at the back post following a free-kick.

Saltash rode their luck at times and needed Jordan Duffey to do the business, but were pegged back on 22 minutes by

Chances came and went for both sides and Saltash were thankful to a superb goal-line clearance from Ethan Wright on 68 minutes after Duffey was rounded.

And within 60 seconds the Ashes were ahead as Kieran O’Melia fired in from close range, a lead they held on to to make the trip down the M5 that much more enjoyable.