Friday 18th April 2025 ko 11:30

South West Peninsula League Premier West

ST DAY 3 (Marks 16 23 Cleverly 32)

PENZANCE AFC 1 (Smith 56)

Att 416

Advance Ticket for all games on the hop £55

Entry £6

Programme £1

Saturday saw the Peninsula Hop start as south-west as we were going to get, in Redruth’s environs and for the next 2 days plus, basically headed north-east. Despite the geography there was little question that in purely groundhopper terms St Day would be the most popular Peninsula League club on the weekend’s event.

The reason was a mixture of the club being in only their first season in the league, and the groundhopper habit of prioritising Step 6 and so making a beeline for any club that makes it to that level. But those facts shouldn’t be the sole reason you should make tracks to the Vogue hamlet end of St Day. Frankly the former mine workings (copper not tin) give the little ground in the valley an almost ethereal quality- even with 400 spectators there.

The club organizing overspill parking in a nearby field was an inspired move, even if the footpath down was a little damp! Of course it rained, it always seems to on Saturdays in the South West, and it did take sterling work to get the pitch playable; all credit to the ground staff there. I must admit I didn’t fancy getting wet on the first game of three, so dashed over to buy a club badge, and immediately regretted that Terry’s Badges wasn’t there. A fiver for something non-enamel is a little steep, but everywhere else St Day’s staging was first class.

I found a dry vantage point on the balcony with Jake Topliss, his Vlogs are well worth a watch and boy is the view spectacular! Add to that the steady supply of tea and delicious cakes that made their way from the back of the clubhouse forward, and you can see why I didn’t move for the duration! That’s my excuse anyway!

I will admit to having a bit of a soft spot for Penzance, or Panzence as Robyn occasionally calls them! I’d argue a trip there in the early 2000’s during their stint in the South Western League is where my liking for Cornish football started. Who could forget the door stop programmes they used to produce for 50p back then!

Unfortunately for the visitors a poor first half saw St Day out of sight by half time, and although they rallied in the second have the hosts deservedly won, but the point was that St Day also won off the pitch too. There can be no doubt that in the minds of all the visitors St Day enhanced their reputation. I certainly enhanced my waistline!

It was a good start to what was always likely to be a fascinating day. Not least because what followed had never been tried on any previous hop. I headed to Truro with no little interest.