Despite being out of action for a day shy of a calendar month, Penzance displayed no rustiness and resumed where they left off at Bude at the start of February with a decisive victory over a team ranked higher in the league table.
Without regular starters Mark Vercesi, Charlie Willis and Darryl Richards, the hosts were on the back foot in the opening exchanges and indebted to goalkeeper Will Trenoweth for good saves from Ryan Reeve (twice) and Russell May.
Penzance first threatened on the half hour when Rolandos Samnauskas fired over, then broke the deadlock three minutes before the interval. A corner from the right was cleared back to its taker Silas Sullivan. He whipped a left-foot delivery to the near angle of the six yard box where centre-back Liam Andrew, still forward for the flag kick, controlled the ball well and spun to clip a low shot just inside Zach Telling’s far post.
Had Jacob Trudgeon connected cleanly with an Archie Reynolds cross, the Magpies might have doubled the damage immediately after the restart. The second goal was not long coming though, and a beauty in was too. Sullivan was again involved, spraying a pass wide to Samnauskas on the right. The Lithuanian’s low centre was defly flicked home by Ollie Butler giving the teenager his third Penzance goal, and a first in front of the Penlee Park faithful.
On each of the their previous two encounters with Wendron, the Magpies had surrendered 2-0 leads, so they needed the insurance of a third. This duly arrived when Kam Collins, back in the team after missing the Bude trip, nodded a Sullivan corner down to Samnauskas who made no mistake.
Wendron strived earnestly to get back into the match. Trenoweth pulled off stunning saves to deny substitute Tiernan Bertrand and Sam Young. So, when he was finally beaten in the fourth minute of stoppage time by a Josh Wood volley, the points were already safely in the bag.
“It was always going to be a tough fixture,” stated Penzance manager Ashley Waters. “What the team achieved today was a massive step, setting high standards for the remainder of the season. The second goal especially was absolutely brilliant and worthy of winning any game. Credit to the players who were fantastic today. We move on to another big game against Camelford next Saturday where we'll be looking for another big performance.”
Penzance: Will Trenoweth, Archie Reynolds, Alfie Turner, Ollie Butler (Ashley Mead 86), Liam Andrew, Silas Sullivan, Jacob Trudgeon (Freddie Neaum 70), Kam Collins, Tyler Tonkin (Charlie Palmer 61), James Butler, Rolandos Samnauskas. Unused sub: Matt James
Wendron: Zach Telling, Isaac Dryburgh (Lennon Watts 83), Callum Bertrand (Tiernan Bertrand 72), Max Roberts, Russell May, Sam Young, Ryan Reeve, Lucas Potts, Ryan Kelly, Jack Stocker, Josh Wood. Unused subs: Scott Palmer, Ethan Fearn
Referee: Paul Kempen
Assistants: Max Davies, Paul Barker
Attendance: 107
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