PENRYN Athletic held onto their fourth place in the Carlsberg South West Peninsula division one (west) table, with well-earned win over a stubborn Mousehole side at Kernick.

Content with getting a draw, the visitors travelled up the A394 and parked two banks of defenders in front of their goal. They restricted Penryn Athletic to very few chances hoping that they may be able to steal the game with a counter attack through their 18-goal man, Gerran James, up front.

The home side’s best chance of the first half fell on 33 minutes when Dale Band collected a Will Scoley corner to send in a fine cross, which was headed over by Athletic’s skipper Peter Davey.

The defensive Mousehole then retreated even further in the second half but had to rely on Ben Nurse to save well from Pat Shaughnessy as Penryn got closer to a breakthrough.

Athletic were now camped in the visitors’ half and a short corner moments later almost produced a goal but Hal Davis headed wide after Shaughnessy picked him out with an excellent cross to the back post.

The opening goal came on the 62nd minute as Darren Edwards slipped the ball wide to Scoley who, instead of taking the ball to the byline, returned it into the middle early. From there, Matt McIlroy smartly turned and fired a low shot inside Nurse’s left-hand post from 18 yards out.

This still did not alter Mousehole’s game plan as they were now content to sit out the rest of the match in a bid to keep the score down.

As a result, for only the first time this season, Athletic dominated the whole of the game and went looking for more goals.

Penryn got their second goal on 70 minutes when a short corner from Scoley found Shaughnessy who chipped another delightful cross to the back post. This time Davis guided his header past Nurse to give him his 15th goal of the season.

As this one-sided encounter came to a close Shaughnessy and Band then combined to cut through the first wall of defenders and put Sean Johnson racing in on the right.

Mousehole could not cut out Johnson’s low cross allowing Pete MacLean to steal in at the back post and place the ball in the net for a well-deserved 3-0 score-line.

Penryn are next in action on Friday when they travel to Treyew Road for an 11am kick-off.

Penryn 1 Bodmin Tn 3 PENRYN Athletic gave the Carlsberg South West Peninsula Premier Division’s runaway leaders a real scare in the Throgmorton Cup semi-final when they took a first half lead.

The match, which was played at Blaize Park last Wednesday evening, saw Bodmin Town come from a goal behind to win 3-1 - a result which will see them face Ivybridge in the final on May 4, at Saltash’s Kimberley Stadium.

However, despite the scoreline Penryn did themselves proud and had they managed to hold onto their lead for longer the result could have been different.

Athletic, who also exited the Cornwall Senior Cup at the last four stage, took the lead after 11 minutes when Pat Shaughnessy drilled the ball into the near post where Pete MacLean stabbed the ball past former Crystal Palace keeper Kevin Miller to give the visitors the lead.

However, Bodmin required only three minutes to get back on level terms when Mark Berry fed the ball to Huw Morgan who fired past Steve Raven from 12 yards out.

Bodmin then pressed forward and could have gone in front but both Dan O’Hagan and Berry sent headers over the top.

Athletic replied with efforts from Will Scoley and Shaughnessy but the killer blow came just before half time when Town put themselves in front.

Berry hit a free-kick, which was pushed away by Raven, but misfortune struck as the save rebounded of the back of Hal Davis and rolled over the goal-line.

Bodmin then set about finishing the game off early in the second half and they booked their place in the final when Robin Teagle’s cross was flicked on by Berry for Karl Turner to fire in from 15 yards out. Penryn did battle on in the second half but couldn’t find a way back into the game.

Penryn: S Raven, D Blizzard, W Scoley, C Davey, P Davey, H Davis, S Johnson, D Band, G Hobbs, P Shaughnessy, P MacLean. Subs: D Edwards, P Heart, S Jewell.

Bodmin: K Miller, J Morris, R Teagle, T Chambers, S Simmonds, K Turner, C Swiggs, N Campbell, D O’Hagan, M Berry, H Morgan. Subs: L Reed, D Gilbert, S Gilbert, T Vercoe.