The Reserve team finally got back on the pitch last Saturday after a six week absence, caused by the inclement weather and paucity of teams in Division One of the Whirlwind Sports Trelawny League, and were well beaten, though certainly not humiliated, by already-crowned champions New Inn Titans.
The fine sunny weather, and hard work from the ground staff, of Thursday and Friday ensured that the Penlee Park playing surface was in surprisingly good condition despite having borne two hours of football on Wednesday. The match was never in doubt, and an impressively large crowd was able to still enjoy a Saturday afternoon football fix on a day the first team fixture at Callington Town was frozen off.
The young homesters enjoyed an encouraging start, but fell behind after 14 minutes when Michael Catterall surged clear down the right and squared to centre-forward Connor Arthur for an easy tap-in. The lead was doubled two minutes before the break by a similar move. This time Catterall shot himself after wriggling clear. His effort was well saved by Adrian Murley, but the ball broke kindly to Arthur to ram home his second.
The half hour after the restart saw Penzance playing some easy on the eye attacking football. The tireless efforts of Sam Payne on the left saw him locate Josh Reeves for a shot that dipped just over. The Magpies finally had the ball in the net when Kai Baxter released Kylo Mayes, but the “goal” was chalked off for offside.
The youngsters finally ran out of steam and Arthur, benefitting from another fortunate rebound, completed his hat-trick nine minutes from time. Lee Major and Darren Smith’s boys might have come second, but losing to a side which has completed its league season with 15 consecutive wins, is no disgrace.
The Reserves are without a match yet again on the final Saturday of January before returning to the fray with a short trip to Rosudgeon on February 4th (2.30pm kick-off).
Penzance Reserves: Adrian Murley, Ben Reeve, Josh Whitburn, Dylan Water, James Payne (c), Josh Reeves, Sam Payne, Kylo Mayes, Tyler Smith, Harvey Ritchings, Haider Fadli, Jake Heale, Lewis Hitchens, Joey Lamb, Kai Baxter, Joel Steel.
Referee: Francis Hood.
Watch: The stream from this match (kindly sponsored by Antony Handyman and Ashley Waters - Painter & Decorator) is available to watch via our Facebook Page.
Comments