Manager Adam Paterson felt Godolphin Atlantic were ‘unfortunate’ not to have taken all three points against a Launceston side who ultimately held out for a draw on the north coast, writes Tom Howe.
The Clarets worked themselves into a two-goal lead after just 26 minutes, with strikes from Sam Clifton and Reece Hendrickson leaving Paterson’s young charges with plenty of work to do.
The Sky Blues never know when they are beaten however and had the deficit halved before the break as winger Kizzy Snowden celebrated his transfer from Penzance with a debut goal.
They maintained their ascendency throughout a second-half punctuated by a sin-bin for defender Ed Timmons. Despite this, with Launceston unable to capitalise, Snowden fed Ritchie Rundle who deservedly equalised in added time.
“We let the first-half get away from us but we were unfortunate not to have won the game in that second-half,” said Paterson. “The first-half performance was down to me. I’ll take the responsibility. I wanted to change the way we play at home and try something different because we haven’t been getting points here.
“It didn’t work and it backfired. We didn’t play the way we can play. We weren’t poor but we weren’t at our best. Having said that, the two goals we conceded were very sloppy and we could have come in at 0-0 realistically had we defended better.
“For the first one, nobody really closed down the boy on the edge of box and, for the second one, to allow a corner to recycle without picking anybody up, that is not good enough. In the second-half we reverted to type and you could see that. The boys knew what they were doing and we were unfortunate not to have won the game.
“The only time we came under pressure in that second-half was the ten minutes [in which Timmons was sin-binned]. I think that has had an effect on the result. You don’t know ultimately whether you would have won the game but I think we would have had a much better chance if that hadn’t have happened.”
A rare success in a season of struggle for Penzance, Snowden went straight into the Godolphin team for Saturday’s visit of Launceston and continued what has been a whirlwind first season in South West Peninsula League football.
“We have known Kizzy’s quality for a while,” continued Paterson. “We had tabs on him in pre-season and we have watched him over the season. Both times he played against us he has impressed and, after the second time, we said let’s go for it. The seven days ran out on Thursday, we spoke to him Friday morning and that was it. He wanted to join and be involved.
“He knows Ollie [Paterson], Archie [Ward] and Eli [Evans] through the Plymouth Argyle development side which made it a little bit easier to persuade him over. He showed his quality with his goal and assist. He worked hard to get into the area for both of them. The finish from Richie was great although I think it was one of his only touches of that second-half. He never really got into the game but was there when we needed him to put the ball into the back of the net.
“You can’t teach physicality. You have to learn that and I think we came unstuck earlier in the season when more physical teams got the better of us. Our players are slowly learning they have to put their bodies in the way and can’t just rely on their technical ability to win games of football.
“That is something they area naturally picking up as they are progressing as 17, 18 and 19-year-olds. Minutes in the reserves is helping. Some have been dropping down to play in the Combination League and that is a very different standard. That is the positive of having the second team going again.”