PENZANCE 4, HAYLE 0

Penzance moved up to third place in the table by virtue of an ultimately comfortable derby victory, repeating the scoreline by which they beat the Greens on Hayle’s last Peninsula League visit in 2008-09. But they only pulled clear in the final half hour after being pushed hard by their newly promoted local rivals.

Magpies manager Mark Vercesi made two changes to the side that had won at Dobwalls, restoring Steve Burt and James Butler to the starting line-up in place of Jacob Trudgeon and George Molcher. And it was a Butler who laid on the game’s first chance, planting a free-kick on to the forehead of Ben Palmer, from whom Caleb Hendy saved.

Jordan Knuckley skimmed a shot just over as Hayle responded, but the home side enjoyed the majority of the chances. Hendy saved well from Lewis Caspall (twice) and Silas Sullivan-Bailey, whilst Butler blazed over from a Caspall centre, and Burt stabbed a Palmer pass just wide. Hayle, though, had the best chance of the half when Knuckley found himself in on goal just before the break, but alert Penzance keeper Harry Salmon read the situation and was fractionally first to the ball.

In recent matches, Penzance have faded after the interval, but this trend was bucked. In the  51st minute header, Butler curled over a corner from the left that was emphatically headed home by Palmer. The Mancunian left-footer then switched flanks for his next flag kick, picking out Sullivan-Bailey with an in-swinger that enabled the stand-in captain to open his account for the season. A third headed goal – notched by on-fire striker Josh Turner from a deep Andreas Calleja-Stayne ball – gave the Magpies clear daylight.

With the game effectively over, Vercesi made five changes, but his side continued to fashion openings. At the end of a mazy run, Charlie Willis saw a low shot smothered by Hendy, before substitute Wade Brown forced the ball, at the second attempt, over the line with just three minutes remaining to wrap up the scoring.

A pair of assists from James Butler, corners from both left and right, put Magpies on their way.

“It is nice to get another win, and a clean sheet is probably the biggest thing for us,” concluded Vercesi. “We’ve had some sloppy goals in the past few games but tonight, apart from perhaps a one-on-one, I don’t think Harry had a save to make. It was feisty, it was everything the supporters wanted to see. I was really impressed with Hayle. They are very hard-working, very physical and very organised. They are going to do very well this season, they are not going to be anyone’s mugs.”

Penzance: Harry Salmon, Steve Burt (George Molcher 66), Ben Palmer, Josh Otto, Silas Sullivan-Bailey (captain), James Butler (Jacob Trudgeon 63), Andreas Calleja-Stayne, Charlie Willis (Wade Brown 80), Ewan Trevains (Archie Reynolds 80), Lewis Caspall, Josh Turner (Hayden Waters 80)

Hayle: Caleb Hendy, Rohan Bennetts, Archie Robbins (Jake Richman 67), Tom Hosking, Jordan Knuckley, Noah Tanner (James Gold 81), Aidan Murphy, Harry Hopkins, Curtis Smith (Dan Magee 79), Aaron Hicks (Joe Day 69), Kieran Rennard (Finn Ayling 62)

Referee: Steve Annis

Assistants: Stuart Bowden, Liam Mankee 

Attendance: 296

Match Report and photo courtesy of James Wright