PLYMOUTH ARGYLE 4
PENRYN ATHLETIC 1
PENRYN Athletic conceded a Carlsberg SWL double to Plymouth Argyle at Bolitho Park on Saturday and were fortunate to escape with such respectable scoreline.
Athletic were outplayed for almost the entire match as the Argyle's youngsters push and run style proved too much to handle. In fact, Athletic found it difficult to find a solution to the problem throughout the match.
The result was better than the seven-goal thrashing Athletic endured at the start of the season, but the performance was just as poor.
It took Argyle just a few seconds into the second minute to open the scoring when defender Mike Cain inexplicably played a short pass to Lee Bradd that had no hope of reaching him. Sam Malsom easily intercepted the pass and he had little difficulty in lobbing the ball into the net from outside the box.
Athletic could make little headway against Argyle's talented youngsters, but much of that was down to allowing them too much space and freedom in which to operate.
Ben Joyce had a couple of opportunities to add to Argyle's tally, but a second goal came in the 20th minute when Jake Moult headed down Matt Watts corner for Malsom to touch into the net.
The first half was a dour affair for Athletic as they failed to create one worthwhile shot of note.
The second half began little better for Athletic and within minutes they conceded a third goal. This time it was Moult, who dictated play throughout in midfield, who punished a static Athletic defence when he headed in unmarked from Watts' corner.
Argyle extended their lead to four goals in the 58th minute when Malsom took on the Athletic defence and when feinting to shoot was taken down by goalkeeper Chris Symons. Dan Smith took the spotkick and sent Symons the wrong way to score.
Athletic's first meaningful response came in the 65th minute when Steve Rowson fired in a shot, but he failed to trouble the 'keeper when he struck it well wide of the target.
The one high spot for Athletic came shortly afterwards when Dean Harris hit a thunderous goal-bound shot that was deflected into the net by Dale Band past Saundercombe.
Athletic included Sam Eglinton who made his full first-team debut and just before the end Matt Drummond had a shot pushed away by Saundercombe.
Athletic: C Symons, S Eglinton, B Goldring, M Cain, L Bradd, D Harris, A Trudgian, M Salmon, S Rowson, M Drummond, D Richardson. Subs: D Band.
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