St Newlyn East’s run of bad results and bad luck continued against third from bottom side St Dennis Reserves at Boscawen Park on Saturday with another defeat and another serious injury.

Even though Newlyn were able to welcome back defender Elliott Dodd to their starting eleven they were still missing seven regulars (Zef Counter, Brodie Mitchell, Al Titterington, Lewis Dodd, Aaron Thompson, Ryan Pooley, Lucas Moses, and Chris Ballett) and with one of the smallest squads – if not the smallest - in the Duchy League this had a serious impact on their strength in depth and available players.

However the opening exchanges were fairly evenly matched with the electric Matt Toms twice going close. It was the home side who broke the deadlock on twenty minutes when Jacob Rowe, playing due to St Dennis SWPL team having no game, hit a thunderous twenty-five yard shot past debutant Tom Moody in Newlyn’s goal. Newlyn nearly responded immediately when Matt Toms rifled a shot that just went wide of the post.
Newlyn’s injury jinx and bad luck then struck again when Chris Hall was knocked to the ground in a collision on thirty minutes causing the Saints defender to leave the field of play with ligament damage to his neck and concussion. Moments later the lively Matt Toms also had to leave the pitch with a hamstring injury which forced the Saints to once again change formation and game plan.

Newlyn started the second half in determined mood and dominated the opening exchanges but poor defending allowed the St Dennis striker to turn inside Steve Harris and fire a left foot shot past Moody. On sixty-five minutes Newlyn conceded a third when more sloppy defending allowed the home side to prod home their third of the day and leave Newlyn with a seemingly impossible task.

Sam Lawrence saw his goal bound effort cleared off the goal line before Newlyn were awarded a penalty when the returning Ross London, on as a substitute, was pulled back in the penalty area giving Elliot Powell the opportunity to hammer home the resulting spot-kick. London then scored himself on his return from injury when he outpaced the sluggish St Dennis defender to coolly roll the ball under the advancing keeper. The comeback was completed with ten minutes left to play when Jack Thompson, who had moments earlier shot just wide from distance, smashed a shot home that almost broke the back of the net.

In a frenetic end to the game that saw both sides have chances to win it was St Dennis who secured all of the points with a ninety-sixth minute winner that just beat the diving Moody going in off the underside of the crossbar.

Overall it was a much better performance than the previous week but Newlyn’s already greatly depleted numbers now added to with the injured Chris Hall will be severely tested in their next two games – away at Godolphin on Saturday and St Mawgan the following Wednesday.

Pheasant Inn Man of The Match: Tom Moody