Today we welcomed Stithians to Penlee Park in our latest league fixture (writes joint Penzance Reserves Manager, Daz Smith).
With a heavily depleted team for various reasons, we knew we would be in for a tough game.
George stayed in goal for his home debut, whilst a back four consisted of Henry, Sam, Steve and Lewis.
Chaz started on one wing with Matt on the other.
Reevesy and Kai paired up in central midfield, whilst Fin started in the 10 roll with Kizzy up top.
Our bench consisted of Payno, Ollie, Lee and Connor.
A fast start, plenty of passing with care in possession were the management's orders.
A fast start is exactly what we got, although it came from a Stithians corner on 5 minutes. The ball was cleared up to Kizzy ,who held the defender off and slipped Chaz through on the half way line. Chaz raced through holding the recovering defender off. The chance appeared to have gone as Chaz cut back onto his left foot, but he calmly slotted home putting us one nil up.
Chances came and went at both ends as we huffed and puffed over hitting a lot of our through balls.
Fin blazed over after a pull back from Chaz, whilst George was forced into a fantastic save low to his left keeping Stithians out at our end.
With half time upon us, our team talk consisted of patience along with speed of play in transition.
We knew the next goal was crucial having played pretty average in the first half and demanded a better second half.
With about twenty minutes gone in the second half Stithians equalised and we appeared to be running out of ideas.
The subs were then called upon. Payno replaced Fin, Olli replaced Chaz pushing Lewis up to left wing and Connor replaced Henry as we changed our shape. Three at the back, with three up top. Connor, Kizzy and Kai were now leading the line.
However, we were made to wait until about the 87th minute for the what turned out to be the winner and how fitting it was.
Connor who lost a tooth and was knocked unconscious at Stithians executed his revenge.
A slide pass from Reevesy saw Connor instinctively hit the ball on the turn, first time past the keeper into the far corner as the game appeared to go into slow motion.
This sparked scenes of jubilation from players, management and supporters as it couldn't have been more deserved.
Thankfully we managed to see the remainder of the game out having played pretty average being honest with the full time whistle blowing.
We weren't at our best today by a long shot, and made hard work of the game, but in the end came away with the result we so badly wanted.
Two Man of the match performances today. Firstly Henry was top drawer at right back. His crosses were superb and he put an absolute shift in defensively rotating with Matt regularly with overlaps at every opportunity.
And secondly, equally, was Connor. He may not have been on the pitch for that long, but was chomping at the bit when he went on. This game was "his final" and he grabbed the winner as he finally got his revenge for his nasty injury sustained earlier in the season. We as managers, the players and supporters were all thrilled for him today.
Penzance Reserves Team: George Hanner, Matt Robinson, Lewis Hitchens, Henry Ramsay, Steve Miller, James Payne, Josh Reeves, Charlie Reynolds, Sam Payne, Fin Sharp, Kizzy Snowden, Kai Baxter, Connor Thomas, Lee Major.
Full Time Result: Penzance Reserves 2-1 Stithians
Goal scorers:
Chaz
Connor
Men of the match: Henry and Connor.
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