JOE Barker’s late penalty earned Kevin Squire a point in his first outing as Holsworthy boss as they were held by Launceston at Upcott Field.

The Clarets took the lead just after the midway point of the first half when Will Gilbert’s superb free-kick went in at the far post, while the hosts, who gave a debut to experienced striker Craig Duff, attacked down the slope but failed to seriously test new goalkeeper Howie Evans despite getting into some promising positions.

After the break both teams had their moments including home striker Ben Sharpe hitting the side-netting when well-placed, while at the other end, another of Launceston’s debutants – striker Joe Jasper – managed to miss from inside the six-yard box when it looked easier to score.

But just as it looked like Launceston would head back down the A388 with an opening day victory to their name, with five minutes remaining, visiting left-back Ryan Dawe was controversially adjudged to have handled in the box when clearing the ball, allowing Barker to fire a superb spot-kick past Evans.

Squire felt his side deserved more, as did Launceston’s joint boss Neil Price.

Squire said: “I thought it was a game where we overall created the chances to win, but unfortunately if you don’t take the chances, teams will take advantage of that.

“I didn’t think it was a free-kick for their goal and at that point in the game, they were not really troubling us at the back.

“But credit to our players who kept fighting and kept working and with some impressive performances on the pitch and off the bench, we were able to get something from the game.

“The penalty was dubious as well to be fair, but I don’t think anyone at the game could say we didn’t deserve something out of it.”

Price felt the Clarets, who gave starts to a host of new signings, should have secured a victory, saying: “I felt we probably did enough to win it, but we put in a good performance against a team who are very difficult to beat at home.

“We restricted to them to very little and had a few moments ourselves, and when you get to 85 minutes and concede a penalty which we thought was incredibly soft, we were a little gutted to come away with a point.

“But that said, coming up here is never easy, and a lot of good sides have lost here in recent times.

“They’ve got some decent players, are very strong at set plays and with long balls into the box, but we stood up to it well and took the lead with great free-kick from Will Gilbert.

“In the second half I couldn’t really see them scoring bar a long ball or set piece, but then they got the penalty.”

HOLSWORTHY: Ryan Chadwick; Callum Martyn, Jedd Peschke (capt), Sam Hill; Will Harris, Rob Pearce, Aidan Slade, Gavin Carter, Kieran Jollow; Craig Duff, Ben Sharpe. Subs: Joe Barker, Jonny Lang, Ben Grech, Josh Down, Dean Hutchings.

LAUNCESTON: Howie Evans; Ollie Brown, Jude Jago, Archie Wall, Ryan Dawe; Kian Berry, Mike Steele (capt), Joe Moynan, Will Gilbert, James McNary; Joe Jasper. Subs: Alex Parnell, Tom Bullock, Sam Tattersall, Ethan Gwillam, Gabe Rutter.

Men-of-the-match: Holsworthy – Gavin Carter; Launceston – Mike Steele.