Penzance v Ludgvan

[cornishteddyboy]

Cornwall Combination League

1st September 2009

Penzance Reserves 6-3 Ludgvan

Ludgvan gave Penzance a real fright on Tuesday night shading the second half. Perhaps Penzance going in half-time 5-0 up might have thought they had done enough but as the game went on Ludgvan seemed to get stronger.

The game was barely a minute old when Adam Fletcher tries a speculative lob from 35yds which drops into the net with Ludgvan keeper Ryan Gendall stranded off his line.

Ludgvan manage a couple of turn and shoot moves from the edge of the box but both miss before Penzance head one just over the top from a cross pitch ball.

The game settles down for a few minutes with neither side showing much in front of goal but then Penzance manage to get down to the goal line on the right where Ashley Thomas knocks the ball over and Ludgvan club captain, Chris Bailey at the near post tries to head clear but the ball flicks off his head cross goal into the net. 2-0 after 21mins.

A couple of minute’s later Ludgvan break and a low volley flies past the bottom of the upright. Half the crowd cheer plus the ref thinks it’s gone in and points to the centre spot for a kick-off before realising what’s happened.

Just after the half hour Penzance increase their advantage when the get a free kick on the edge of the box just right of centre. Joe Day takes the spot kick which rebounds off the wall back to him. He tries knocking it over and the ball takes a slight deflection to beat the diving Gendall. 3-0 after 31mins.

A minute later Fletcher grabs his second of the night when another break on the right sees the ball come over to the back of the box where a low shot from 10yds is enough to add another mark on the ref’s score card. 4-0 after 32mins.

Ludgvan look to be total collapse as Penzance get a third in three minutes through Wayne Edwards. He gets the ball 40yds out, brushes off a couple of tackles, gets into the box one-on-one with the keeper. The keeper makes a grab but misses, Wayne goes around him and knocks it in from 10yds. 5-0 on 34mins

The game goes quiet for the next 10mins and the ref blows for half-time.

H-T

My notes for the start of the 2nd half say Ludgvan are starting well, and how true that proved.

They break, shoot low and Penzance keeper Craig Nicholls has to get down quickly to make a grab.

The half is only 4mins old when Ludgvan get their first goal of the game and season through Mike Cruse. A ball from the left turns the Magpies defence and Cruse runs onto it and fires in cross goal from 12yds. 5-1 after 49mins.

Penzance come back and get their 6th when a corner on the right is knocked in by Thomas and Ross pope standing on the penalty spot heads in through a crowd of players. 6-1 after 53mins.

After that Ludgvan seem to be on the ascendancy with Penzance back peddling.

Tom Hosking clears off the line after a high ball beats Nicholls, a long range shot is just wide of the upright and Nicholls has to push away a shot.

Cruse then gets his second when once again a through ball from the right confuses the Penzance defence and Cruse nips in to fire low at the back post. 6-2 after 66mins.

Time seems to drag by for Penzance supporters and even with a four goal cushion there was a sneaky feeling “thank goodness for the first half when we scored 5.”

Penzance try a couple of substitutions to liven themselves up.

A long ball from the back followed by a low shot has Nicholls diving to grab a bouncing ball. Then he has to punch clear after the ball is floated in to a crowded box.

Then with the clock running down Ashley Matthews grabs a third Ludgvan goal when he runs onto a through ball on the right, into the box and fires cross goal. 6-3 after 83mins.

The last action belongs to Penzance when once again they are awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. Thomas takes it and puts in a high curler which is cleared with a brilliant save from Gendall who flying dives across his goal to push the ball away one handed. Superb save, once a season save.

F-T

Penzance – Craig Nicholls, Ashley Thomas, Andre Otto, Liam Bennett, Tom Hosking, Liam Devine, Wayne Edwards, Charlie Penny, Adam Fletcher, Ross Pope, Joe Day

Subs – Chris Bullock (Edwards 73), Jimmy England (Fletcher 82), Kieran Brownfield (Nicholls 90+1)

Corners – Penzance 3-6 Ludgvan (0-2 1st half)

Crowd - 76

[mikeb]

John Matthews of Ludgvan, broke his leg in this game, after a tackle after 30 minutes. This wasn't apparent at the time, but showed up in X ray

[kevin richards]

Please pass on my best wishes to John. Is this finnaly going to be the end of a fantastic career ?. John is a combination league legend & to still be playing at this level at 50 years old is a unbelievable achievement. Added to this, John was also playing vets football on a sunday ! One of the best competitors i have ever played against, never gave up, even when manager of a Ludgvan side that was being beaten every week, John was at the back encouraging the youngsters to play the right way. Hope to see you soon m8. :clapper:

[Soccer Follower]

With your drive John,i'm sure that you'll see this as a temporary setback.

See you back playing soon.

Top man.

[Guest Luffy]

John will be out for approx 6 weeks. So we wish him all the best from the team and hope he's back raring to go. At the time we did not realise that it was broken everyone thought it was just badly buised although it did swell up a fair bit.

[cornishteddyboy]

Pass on my regards to John.

A loyal servant to the Combo and Ludgvan. I wish there were many more like him.

CTB