PENZANCE player/manager Mark Vercesi is hoping to see the revived Magpies build on the achievement of lifting the South West Peninsula League Cup.

An 8-7 penalty shootout win over Cullompton Rangers after a goalless 120 minutes at Launceston’s Pennygillam on Bank Holiday Monday (May 5) gave the men from Penlee Park their first trophy since the SWPL was formed in 2007.

Vercesi said: “The win is huge for the club, we’ve been through several years of the darker days and now it feels like we are ready to grow again.

“Our supporters are turning up in their droves now to follow this club that is well and truly on the up.

“Hopefully this will be the first of many trophies over the next few years.”

Reflecting on the final which was played in front of 533 supporters, dozens of which made the long trip up from West Cornwall, Vercesi said: “It was a very cagey match with few opportunities, but I felt we had the best of those chances, hitting the post twice and having a penalty saved.

“It could’ve gone either way at times but we should have nicked it just before the penalties, missing an open goal.

“But credit to our boys taking those penalties, six of those takers being 21 or under. It takes a lot of courage in those big moments and the boys held up to it.”

Vercesi, now 43, played the full 120 minutes and was among the Magpies’ penalty scorers in the shootout.

He said: “It’s hard work playing and managing, that’s for sure.”

Penzance finished sixth in the SWPL Premier West Division with only seven defeats, three of which came in the final three games, and will hope to push on again next term in what is always a highly-competitive league.