Venosa sparks turnaround
TWO goals and a man down, Rawlinson Cup holders St Martin’s battled back to beat Manzur 5-2 last night as the new season sizzled into exciting action at The Track.
Manzur dominated the first half of the first-round tie and led through goals by Marlon Jardim and Matt Loaring.
Saints then had midfielder Eti Le Prevost sent off with more than an hour to play and Manzur should have killed the game off by the break.
But they let Saints off the hook and having introduced Ally Venosa on the resumption, the sub marked his return to the club by scoring twice in three minutes to level.
On the hour mark the turnaround was complete, Louis Hunter racing away on Venosa’s pass and chipping over a stranded Dicky Davey for the lead.
Manzur had fallen apart and Steve Renouf added a fourth and Simon Geall a fifth late on.
To make matters worse for Mark Romeril's side Luke Winch was carried off with what may be a serious injury.
