In their first match under new managers Lee Major and Darren Smith, the Reserves recorded an encouraging 3-2 win over visiting Lanner on Saturday evening.
The young Penzance team made a bright start and took an early lead when, following a well worked short corner routine on the right, Ben Jefferies marked his debut by finding the net with an angled drive into the far top corner of the net.
Lanner hauled themselves back on to level terms before the break with Josh Ireson heading home an Owen Ford free-kick. Their provider then turner scorer, Ford firing home midway through second half to put the visitors ahead.
But the Magpies were not to be denied. Haidar Fadli, one of last season’s squad who has remained at Penlee, turned the match on its head with two goals in the last ten minutes. Having hit the bar in the first half, Fadli levelled the scores with a low shot on the turn, then clinched victory with an accurate header.
Looking back on a satisfactory afternoon, joint manager Smith said: “Today’s game was our first chance to see our new look team hopefully playing the football we have worked on in training.
With some new additions unavailable, we were forced to play some players out of position. I felt in possession we were good, and we tried to make the pitch as big as possible by keeping the ball moving in order to tire the opposition. We have worked on quick passing coupled with bravery on the ball, and I think today we saw the first glimpses of what we are trying to achieve.
Physically, Lanner were fully grown strong men, whereas we are a youthful technical team with speed of play, and so we naturally conceded from an aerial set piece after going one nil up. We had the majority of play, but we weren't quite clinical enough today, being critical, and were always liable to get sucker-punched to go 2-1 down.
But the lads showed resilience and we kept plugging away and in the end got our just deserts with a quick fire double from Haidar! Ultimately we are very happy with the team’s efforts as they tried to follow our instructions as much as possible, and at times looked different level.”
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