HOLSWORTHY were made to pay for a poor first half before a controversial late penalty sent them to a 2-1 defeat at Torridgeside on Friday night.

The two sides met in May’s Torridge Cup final, and it was again the East division side who came out on top.

The Magpies were looking to bounce back from consecutive league defeats to Elburton Villa and Wendron United, and boss Kevin Squire drafted in Rob Pearce and Kieran Jollow to the starting line-up.

However, the opening 45 minutes were dominated by Torridgeside who although eventually took the lead through former Holsworthy frontman Blake Shapland, missed several other opportunities as a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping Ryan Chadwick kept the score at 1-0.

Squire had seen enough and changed formation as well as personnel as attackers Joe Barker and Chris Wildern came on for Elis Aldrich and Jollow, while Jay Thomas was injured and replaced by Craig Penberthy, making his first appearance of the season.

That seemed to inspire the visitors as they saw more of the ball and started to win their battles all over the pitch.

Their first big chance arrived just after the hour as top-scorer Ben Sharpe went through, but after rounding the goalkeeper, couldn’t quite sort his feet out and he could only find the side-netting.

The Magpies were dealt a big blow on 70 minutes as skipper Jedd Peschke was sent off for a tackle right in front of the home bench.

To Holsworthy’s credit they continued to persevere and levelled with 10 minutes remaining.

A superb through-ball from Barker combined with an excellent piece of skill from Sharpe sent Sharpe away, and he calmly found the bottom corner.

But within two minutes the home side were back in front.

A cross from the right saw visiting striker Craig Duff contest for the ball with their striker, and the referee pointed to the spot, to the surprise of both sides.

Up stepped Tyler Loude-Evans who made no mistake.

Holsworthy still had nearly 10 minutes to find a leveller and send the tie to spot-kicks, but despite having a couple of efforts blocked and a penalty appeal waved away, it was Torridgeside’s night.

Reflecting on the game, Squire said: “In the first half we weren’t at the races at all, it was really poor and I don’t think we won a duel for the first 50 minutes of the game, which is very unlike us.

“We stood off them and you can’t do that in games for the amount of time we did, and we were lucky we didn’t go in three or four down, we were that poor in the first half.

“I thought we were much better in the second half, but that’s three games in a row we’ve lost and we need to bounce back as quickly as possible.”

HOLSWORTHY: Ryan Chadwick; Sam Hill, Jedd Peschke (capt), Callum Martyn; Gavin Carter, Jay Thomas, Elis Aldrich, Rob Pearce, Kieran Jollow; Ben Sharpe, Craig Duff. Subs: Todd Peschke, Joe Barker, Chris Wildern, Josh Down, Craig Penberthy.

Magpies’ man-of-the-match: Ryan Chadwick.