Hopkinson comes off the bench to guide Camels to victory

PLAYER/MANAGER Bobby Hopkinson inspired a fine comeback as Camelford ground out a 3-2 success at strugglers Millbrook on Saturday.

The Camels had enjoyed a week off since their 2-0 success over Falmouth Town Reserves, a result which gave them a third straight win, but had to do without dual-registered midfielder Matt Andrew who was back in action for Liskeard Athletic in the Western League.

Also out of the team went Hopkinson and the unavailable Joe Parr as Ross Beare, Josh Harris and winger Will Rees all came in.

Millbrook’s Jenkins Park is never an easy place to go and both sides had half chances early on before the Camels took a 13th minute lead in bizarre circumstances. Fine play by Rees down the left saw him send the ball across the six-yard box where winger Olly Taylor seemingly put the ball off the stanchion before it came back out of the goal. Kyle Flew slotted it in anyway to avoid any controversy.

However, from there the Camels seemed to take their eye off the task at hand as the villagers gradually worked their way into the contest.

They drew level on 32 minutes as the visitors failed to deal with a ball in which allowed Will Larsen to beat Cory Harvey from close-range.

That momentum continued either side of the break with their front three causing Camelford a few problems, and they deservedly led on 67 minutes.

A long ball forward from the home goalkeeper was allowed to bounce and Josh Payn nipped in to lob Harvey from 18 yards despite the former Plymouth Argyle man getting a hand to it.

Straight after Hopkinson had seen enough and introduced himself up front with the available-again Kenley Dyson put on in midfield, and it had an immediate effect as they got back on top.

The Camels were level on 75 minutes as Hopkinson’s 30-yard free-kick was fumbled, allowing centre-half Dan Hocking to crash in from close-range.

Millbrook defended well under pressure late on, but in the first minute of added-on time they conceded.

Flew’s cross in from the right was only cleared as far as Hopkinson on the penalty spot and he sent a left-footed shot into the roof of the net to the delight of the Camelford players and supporters.

They held on for a seventh win of the season from 10 starts, and their sixth in the last seven.

Hopkinson admitted they were far from their best, adding: “We've still got to get better with our mentality for these sorts of games. Just because they’re near the bottom doesn’t mean that’s the way it’s going to go, and we need to realise that not every game is going to be a nice footballing game. Sometimes it’s going to be physical and you have to do the dirty stuff well.

“That said, they took some points off us last season, so to win the game, even if it wasn’t anywhere near our best performance, is pretty encouraging.”

The Camels host Holsworthy tomorrow night (Tuesday, 7.30pm) before a mouthwatering FA Vase visit from Western League Premier Division high-flyers Clevedon Town on Saturday (3pm).

CAMELFORD: Cory Harvey; Sam Watts, Dan Hocking, Tom Crowe (capt), Josh Harris; Piotr Maciejewski, Ross Beare, Jacob Ham; Olly Taylor, Kyle Flew, Will Rees. Subs: Matt Gilmour, Kenley Dyson, Bobby Hopkinson, Matt Lloyd.

Camels’ man-of-the-match: Bobby Hopkinson.