ALTHOUGH the wind was a huge factor in the game, Newquay earned a second win since promotion with a 1-0 success over second bottom Nailsea and Tickenham at Mount Wise.

The visitors headed down to Cornwall with just a point to their name following a summer which saw plenty of key players leave, while Newquay themselves were far from full strength with the key attacking trio of Jack Bray-Evans (groin), Callam McOnie (long-term injury) and Louis Price (away) all unavailable.

However, it gave an opportunity for boss Shaun Middleton to give the reserves’ leading scorer Ben Shaw a debut up front.

Nailsea decided to play into the wind for the first half and never really got out of their own half because of the wind and Newquay found it difficult to control the ball due to the elements.

That said, Shaw was unfortunate not to have two goals on his debut.

Twice he ran through from an on-side position when chasing throughballs, however the linesman, despite video evidence proving otherwise, raised his flag on both occasions.

Newquay’s constant pressure paid off after 30 minutes when full-back Jamie Edlin was fed the ball on the right wing from Shaw. He crossed the ball low into the box and it came off a defender and sat up for the returning Tom Shepherd to volley it into the net.

The first half continued with Newquay dominating play but just not able to create any chances, although Nailsea did not even have a shot on goal to worry Ethan Elwell.

The second half had Newquay playing into the strong wind that was still blowing.

Shaw had a chance to score when he was put through, and although his shirt was being pulled, he carried the ball forward and took a shot but the keeper managed to get a hand to it.

A short while later, Harry Downing had his header from a Newquay corner cleared off the line, however the pressure that Newquay kept on Nailsea finally brought a penalty when left-back Tom Moxham took the ball into the Nailsea box on the left and was brought down.

Tom Shepherd immediately picked up the ball, however the spot-kick was met by a big left-hand from the keeper to keep the score at 1-0.

Newquay continued to dominate albeit without really testing the keeper, but with Elwell a virtual spectator, the Peppermints held on for a crucial victory before next Saturday’s home date with play-off chasing Paulton Rovers.

Reflecting on the game, Newquay manager Shaun Middleton said: “It was a good win yesterday in terrible conditions. The wind made it hard to play proper football but I was proud of the lads to get the three points in a challenging league.

“The returning Tom Shepherd got the goal and there were some top performances. It was also great to have Cam Turner back in the centre of defence.

“And young Ben Shaw made his debut for the first team and I thought he did extremely well, so a good day all round.”

NEWQUAY: Ethan Elwell; Jamie Edlin, Harry Downing (capt), Cam Turner, Tom Moxham; Aaron Dilley; Tom Shepherd, Harry Richards, Phil Lowry, Rhys Simmonds; Ben Shaw. Subs: Ollie Butterworth, Ross Fallens, Lucas Potts, Owen Johnson, Jacob Grange.