Camels see off Torrington to set up Clevedon Town tie in FA Vase

CAMELFORD are into the First Round Proper of the FA Vase after easing past Torrington 4-1 in North Devon on Saturday.

The Camels had been held to a 3-3 draw at Helston Athletic four days earlier and with Sam Watts injured and Kyle Flew unavailable, player/manager Bobby Hopkinson gave a first start for Ronnie Reynolds at right-back with himself coming in up front. The other change saw midfielder Jacob Ham swap with Piotr Maciejewski.

The first half was an even affair with both sides struggling to create clearcut chances, although the Super Greens did force Camels keeper Cory Harvey into an excellent save from Rafe Barnes’ close-range header on the half-hour.

Camelford did eventually take the lead on 53 minutes as Hopkinson found a third man run from midfielder Kenley Dyson who found the top corner from 10 yards.

The second came just two minutes later with Hopkinson again involved. This time he flicked a pass around the corner for right-winger Olly Taylor to get in behind, his cross to the far post ending up being slotted in by the in-form Liam Higgins.

Their passage was all but confirmed on 69 minutes as a home centre-back somehow lobbed his own goalkeeper from the best part of 35 yards, and although the Greens pulled one back via Will Tucker on 84 minutes following a mix-up between Harvey and left-back Josh Harris, Camelford grabbed a fourth in injury-time. Young midfielder Matt Gilmour won possession before driving into the box and squaring to fellow teenager Joe Parr for the simplest of tap-ins as they set up a home tie with Western League Premier Division promotion-hopefuls Clevedon Town on Saturday, October 10 (3pm).

A delighted Hopkinson, who sees his side return to SWPL Premier West action on Saturday when they welcome Hayle to Trefrew Park (3pm), said: “It’s pleasing as I said before the season started we’d like to go on a decent cup run, and it’s also good for the club financially as every little bit helps.

“We had to make a few changes from Tuesday night but the mentality was really positive. To have four different goalscorers is always good and we’ve got people coming back from injury now which means we’re going to have a lot of competition for places which is what you want as a manager.”

On Saturday, Hopkinson admits Hayle are a bit of an unknown quantity.

He continued: “We don’t know much about them at this stage, but we’ll have a look at them, although we’ll be focusing on ourselves and what we do.

“It’s nice to be back at home, particularly off the back of a win, but we won’t be taking anything for granted. As the manager with people coming back it’s up to me to select the right team and bench as I’m soon going to have to start leaving people out of the squad which I’ve not had to do yet this season. But we’ve got some winnable games coming up with Hayle, Launceston and Falmouth Reserves where we’ll be targeting maximum points.”

CAMELFORD: Cory Harvey; Ronnie Reynolds, Dan Hocking, Tom Crowe (capt), Josh Harris; Kenley Dyson, Ross Beare, Jacob Ham; Olly Taylor, Bobby Hopkinson, Liam Higgins. Subs: Joe Parr, Will Rees, Piotr Maciejewski, Matt Gilmour, Matt Lloyd.

Camels’ man-of-the-match: Kenley Dyson.