Penryn Athletic manager Harry Pope hit a milestone in his sides game against Launceston as it was the gaffers 100th match in charge of the Kernick Road outfit.

Speaking in an interview with the Packet Pope was delighted with the achievement, he said: “It feels good, It has obviously taken a lot longer than normal due to the covid years, it has spread over four seasons rather than two or three. 

“It is a great achievement, I am loving the club we are in a good place at the minute being in the South West Peninsula League (SWPL).

 “I feel we could be in a better place in the league but for the first season we are doing okay, we are holding our own. The second team are looking good if they win their games in hand they can go top of the (LWC Combination) league and are looking to apply for promotion so it is looking good.”

Pope revealed it has always been a goal to get Athletic into the Peninsula League but hinted that there is more to come from him and his side: “I didn’t have a target set for how many games I wanted but the Peninsula League was always a target. It took longer because of Covid but I had a two or three year plan to get us to the Peninsula League and now I am here I am looking to the future. 

“That is not job done for me, the first stage of my Penryn career is ticked off and now I am looking forward to the future, and here’s to a few hundred more. 

Pope reflected back to his first game as Penryn manager, and mentioned how childhood experiences at Kernick Road made taking the reigns even sweeter: “I remember the pre season. As a kid growing up in youth football when we had cup finals they were always played at Penryn.” He said. “I got the job quite early on in the summer. I remember the pre season being amazing, I think we had eight games and seven were at home! It was good times to get used to my new home. 

“I remember the first game of the season being Redruth at home and we won 4-0 and thinking ‘this is my new home, I love this place.’ 

“It’s just fond memories I have scored goals, won cups in youth teams on that pitch so just to walk out and have that as my pitch is a special memory.”

Penryn are tenth in the table(P 15, W6, D2, L7) in what is their first ever season in the SWPL, in Pope’s 100th game however their opponents Launceston didn’t read the fairytale script and came out 1-3 winners on the day, with Ryan Reeve notching Penryn’s only goal.

Reacting to the result Pope rued a seven minute spell which ended up costing Penryn the match, he said: “We had a good chat after the game. One thing we are annoyed about is that we keep conceding goals that are our own mistakes.

"It is not as if teams are completely carving us apart and we can’t compete at this level. It is frustrating that we seem to be causing our own mistakes at the minute and really it was a seven minute madness that cost us the game.

“If we had gone in 1-0 down we could have regrouped and come out a bit more attacking and gone for it. 

“Looking back on the second half performance if we had gone in only a goal down we could have got a whole different mindset. It was a mad seven minutes that cost us the game in the end.”

Penryn have a two week break ahead of their next game on Saturday, November 27 which is against St Austell.