RUBIN Wilson’s powerful header after 10 minutes proved enough for Falmouth to retain the Senior Cup in a hard fought final at Newquay’s Mount Wise ground on Saturday.

In front of a crowd of 1,177 – the noisy majority of which were from Falmouth – the sides failed to reproduce the drama of last season’s showpiece when St Austell saw a 2-1 extra time lead evaporate in three minutes of time added on to lose 3-2.

This time, chances were few and far between as two very well-organised defences dominated after Wilson stretched to head in a superb cross from man-of-the-match Olly Walker.

Thereafter, neither goalkeeper was seriously tested and the nearest St Austell came to equalising was when Kieron Bishop brought the best out of Morgan Coxhead midway through the first half.

The Lillywhites’ bench became increasingly exasperated with some of the refereeing of Steve Swan, with manager Chris Knight earned a late yellow card before assistant manager James Powell was shown a red card after the final whistle.

The final started with Falmouth on top and St Austell were finding it difficult to get out of their own half.

So it was no surprise when the holders broke the deadlock when a superb cross from the right by Walker picked out Wilson on the far post and at full stretch he headed past Andy Collings.

St Austell responded well, at last finding some momentum from midfield and a fine through ball from Adam Carter played in Bishop, who cut in from the left to fire in a vicious right foot shot which brought the best out of Coxhead.

The ball was only half cleared and in the melee which followed, George Marris went down under a Falmouth challenge but Swan waved away the appeals.

Jack Webber could have doubled Falmouth’s lead on the half-hour but he slipped as he went to shoot from 15 yards.

Olly Brokenshire an influential figure pushing forward from central defence for the Saints, but Falmouth ended the half on top and Fred Walter hammered a 20-yard shot just over the bar.

A clever run by right-back Jake Shaw in the 52nd minute took him past three Town defenders but his shot went straight at Coxhead.

Then the impressive Bishop worked his way into the penalty area, but with only the keeper to beat, his final touch let him down.

Walker, who was the game’s liveliest performer, then had an opportunity to double Falmouth’s lead after 67 minutes but his left-foot shot struck the outside of the post.

The remaining 20 minutes or so saw Falmouth holding on relatively comfortably to what they had with skipper Tom Annear and Walter in commanding form.

FALMOUTH TOWN: Morgan Coxhead; Fred Walter, Harrison Jewell, Tom Annear (capt), Bradley Leivers; Andreas Calleja-Stayne, Jack Webber (Cam Hutchison, 71); Olly Evans (Luke Brabyn, 61), Jared Sims, Olly Walker (Tom Fisher, 90+2),; Rubin Wilson. Subs not used: Max Everall, Ned Symons.

ST AUSTELL: Andy Collings; Jake Shaw (Rhys Hooper, 73), Olly Brokenshire, Tom Whipp, Martyn Duff; Callum Watson (Henry Wilson, 83), Neil Slateford (capt); Kieron Bishop (Ryan Downing, 65), Matt Searle (Alex Hamley, 89), George Marris (Josh Penrose, 83); Adam Carter.

Men-of-the-match: Falmouth – Olly Walker; St Austell – Olly Brokenshire.