A depleted Penzance side missing the experience of James Payne, Joel Steel and Tyler Smith were put to the sword by table-topping New Inn Titans who moved a step closer to a third consecutive championship.
Six meetings between these sides over the past two seasons have yielded some tight encounters, but from the moment Titans captain Barry Penfold headed home a fourth minute free-kick, this was never going to be another.
Johnny Jones bisected the Penzance back line to enable Connor Arthur to clip home the second from a narrowing angle. Then, after the home defence had been caught in possession, Arthur returned the favour, squaring to Jones to put Titans out of sight with barely half an hour played.
The Magpies had a great chance just before the break. From a Lewis Hitchens corner, Kai Baxter wriggled himself into a shooting position. Ben Penna parried the ball to the feet of Matt Robinson whose instinctive shot crashed against a post.
Within two minutes of the restart, Adam Solomon glanced home a Rob Penfold corner. Arthur then scored the goal of the game, a thunderous free-kick from nearly thirty yards out that gave George Hanner no chance. After Steve Miller tripped Solomon, Arthur completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot.
The young Penzance side never gave up and notched a deserved consolation in injury-time, Sam Payne surging through from the halfway to square to Charlie Reynolds for a cool finish.
“Tonight I felt we weren't at our best for one reason or another,” rued Penzance joint manager Darren Smith. “Perhaps, our inexperience showed a little. Collectively we lacked fight and desire, whilst New Inn showed why they are champions-to-be. They wanted it more whilst we appeared tired at times, and lacked creativity. We left feeling very frustrated with our performance and now demand a response in our next fixture on Saturday. Not a great day at the office unfortunately, but we need to learn from this, and learn quickly.”
Penzance: Georger Hanner, Lewis Hitchens, Henry Ramsay, Steve Miller, Sam Payne, Josh Reeves (Kai Baxter 70), Ewan Trevains, Adam Lewis (Ben Jefferies 76), Kai Baxter (Charlie Reynolds 62), Kizzy Snowden (Connor Thomas 70), Matt Robinson (Fin Sharp 62)
New Inn: Ben Penna, Dylan Isaacs, Barry Penfold, Ralph Pascoe, Liam Isaacs, Ryan Baber, Connor Arthur, Adam Solomon, Johnny Jones, Robert Penfold, Jareth Barrington-Smith. Subs: Michael Catterall, Rikki Smith, Hal Davis, Scott Gunn, Luke Dunstan
Referee: Ian Roberts
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