PENRYN ATHLETIC 1

NEWQUAY 4

SCOTT Palmer is a gamekeeper turned poacher and he has obviously made the right choice following his one-man demolition of Penryn Athletic in the Carlsberg SW Peninsula League on Saturday.

Many saw Palmer as a promising goalkeeper, but he decided he fancied a change of scenery and opted to try his luck as a striker, a move that has paid big dividends for the Peppermints.

On Kernick's green and pleasant land, Palmer helped himself to a hat-trick to leave Athletic perilously close to the relegation zone.

Good as Palmer was, Athletic can have no real complaints after giving what for them was a very poor performance in what was a must-win game. They played and looked like a side low on confidence in too many areas.

It took Newquay just eight minutes to stamp their authority on the game after Chris Davey was pulled up for a foul on the edge of the box. Despite a five-man wall, Palmer’s 22-yard free kick cleared the wall and rocketed into the net before Steve Raven could move.

Newquay’s Aaron Bicknell was booked for a dangerous tackle on Peter Maclean as Newquay sought to impose themselves on the home side.

Gregg Hobbs had a half chance to level the scores when he was put in, but he thumped his shot against the crossbar from 12 yards.

Athletic found themselves in deeper trouble in the 15th minute when Pete Davey was unable to get his head to a long throw with the ball falling to Luke Rigby who drilled his shot past Raven from eight yards.

Athletic got themselves back into the game in the 24th minute when Shaun Johnstone took a pass from Dale Band and raced goalwards. He moved wide of the defence and lifted his cross-cum-shot over the ’keeper and inside the far post for good finish.

The problem for Athletic was that there was no holding Palmer who gave the home defence a torrid 90 minutes with his powerful running.

Five minutes after Athletic scored Pete Davey and Hal Davis had difficulty in containing Palmer who bundled his way through the middle and slipped the ball under Raven to score.

In desperation Athletic shuffled their pack for the second half and introduced new signing from Truro City, 16-year-old Darren Edwards, who showed plenty of promise, along with sub Pat Shaughnessy.

Almost immediately palmer foced his way through again, but Raven managed to snuff out the danger.

A couple of bookings followed for Newquay and athough he missed a good chance in a one-on-one with Raven, Palmer completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot. Josh Harris broke away on the flank with Johnstone in pursuit, but when he got into the box Johnstone appeared to play the ball as he made his tackle. The referee thought otherwise and Palmer seized his chance to score.

This was not a good result for Athletic who bady need to start picking up some points.

On Saturday Athletic are away to Dobwalls.

Athletic: S Raven, S Johnstone, W Scoley, P Davey, H Davis, D Band, P Maclean, C Davey, G Bell, G Hobbs, A Bradshaw. Subs: C James, P Shaughnessy, M Perry, D Edwards, S Jewell.