St. Piran League

Division 1 East

Saturday 19th April 2025

Kick Off 11.00 On Time!

Nanpean Rovers 6 Roche 0, attendance 432

5’ 1-0

35’ 2-0

37’ 3-0

85’ 4-0

86’ 5-0

90’ 6-0

@ Victoria Bottoms Playing Field

Fore Street (B3279)

Nanpean

PL26 7YE

£4 Admission

£3 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.

This was the only ground I’d be visiting on the organised ‘hop weekend. Any doubt over whether the game would go ahead okay were soon put at ease by an early tweet from Nanpean that the pitch had survived the heavy rain of yesterday and that the pitch was playable. Nanpean were formed in 1901 and over the years have played in the Cornwall Combination, South Western League, East Cornwall Premier League and they’re now in the St. Piran League, where they currently sit second in Division 1 (level 2 of the league), only trailing league leaders Looe Town on goal difference, although they have played one game more. With visitors Roche sitting bottom of the table, with just one win and a draw from their 23 games so far, today was a good opportunity to not only pick up the three points, but also try and make up some of the goal difference deficit too.

It only took them five minutes to make the breakthrough and if it wasn’t for a number of saves by the Roche ‘keeper, they could have been out of sight early on. However, they didn’t score their second until ten minutes before halftime, flicking in a corner at the near post and quickly followed this with a finish into the bottom corner to see them lead 3-0 at the break. Despite creating a hatful of chances, their fourth goal didn’t arrive until five minutes from the end, but it sparked them back into life. Within a minute they scored again, with a shot from the edge of the box that gave the ‘keeper no chance, before scoring a sixth in the last minute, when what looked like a cross in from the left evaded everyone and went into the far corner of the net.

Victoria Bottoms is a cracking ground, certainly in the ‘quirky’ category, with raised viewing on three sides and a rather unique piece of cover behind one goal, with a viewing area on top of it’s roof. The pitch held up well and we had no rain at all, which was certainly a bonus. A good turnout too, although it didn’t feel quite as big as the official attendance given.