Bottom club St Dennis pulled off a rousing late come-back to nick just their fourth point of the season and deny Penzance what would have been a first away victory.
The visitors edged ahead early on when goalkeeper Ryan Holland fouled Silas Sullivan allowing Jacob Trudgeon to score from the spot – his third goal in two matches. The Magpies had further chances, but owed their half-time lead to three brilliant saves from Mikey Flores – two of which denied Mykey Davies – as St Dennis generally bossed proceedings.
The second half was an entirely different proposition with Penzance well on top. One minute in captain Tyler Tonkin, again deployed as a makeshift centre-forward in Michael Fitchett’s absence, had a header cleared off the line by Aaron Weeks. Sullivan curled a shot inches wide and Tonkin and Liam Andrew went close with headers from crosses by Archie Reynolds and Charlie Willis respectively.
After Willis had been clattered by Weeks, James Butler was thrown wide out right to whip in the free-kick. The young left-back obliged, plopping a sumptuous delivery on to the forehead of Andrew to put Penzance two up. An injury to the excellent Butler shortly afterwards, however, changed the course of the match. His withdrawal saw scorer Andrew’s brother Ryan come on, forcing regular right-back Reynolds to switch flanks.
Before the Magpies had time to re-adjust Flores, under a robust challenge, spilled a deep up-and-under. The ball broke kindly to Danny Zalick to fire St Dennis back into contention. The pace of home substitute Ryan Hollett then exposed Penzance in the comprised left-back position, drawing a foul. From the spot, Davies finally got the better of Flores to earn St Dennis their point.
“Today we had to show different aspects to our game against a very physical team,” said Magpies manager Ashley Waters afterwards. “In the last month Penzance have become a side of battling qualities with a real togetherness. Today we showed that and deserved three points. We made two errors and got punished for both. With a bit more luck the game could have been over in the first twenty minutes of the second half. Tyler Tonkin led the line well with the defence again strong, and young Ollie Butler, Charlie Willis and Kam Collins put in great shifts on a terrible pitch. We are disappointed with the result but the work rate was brilliant and we’ve got a point away from home.”
Penzance: Mikey Flores, Archie Reynolds, James Butler (Ryan Andrew 76), Mark Vercesi, Liam Andrew, Charlie Willis, Jacob Trudgeon (Rolandos Samnauskas 81), Kam Collins, Tyler Tonkin (captain), Ollie Butler, Silas Sullivan. Unused subs: Ashley Mead, Sam Fisher, Will Trenoweth
St Dennis: Ryan Holland, James Baker (captain), Aaron Weeks, Ash Taylor, Dan O’Brien, Nathan Lang, Martin Sleeman, Andrew Butler, Danny Zalick, Ray Spear, Mykey Davies. Subs: Harry Cranstone, Mark Rowe, Zach Best, Ryan Hollett, Damian Boyle
Referee: Ryan Dennis
Assistants: Daniel Bennetts, Stuart Bowden