Peel AFC kicked off the new football season by winning the Eric Fletcher Charity Shield at the Bowl on Saturday afternoon.

The westerners were indebted to Paul Whitehead who emerged from the bench to score twice in injury-time to seal the silverware.

Until his intervention, the match had looked destined for penalties after Dan Simpson’s second-half equaliser following Jake Robertshaw’s opener for the westerners shortly before half-time.

Peel had gone into the match as favourites on the back of their Canada Life Premier League title success last season, but Corinthians had enjoyed double cup success of their own in the FA Cup and Railway Cup.

Peel were missing last year’s Isle of Man FA Player of the Year Rhys Oates who is still working his way back to fitness following injury, while the Whites fielded a much-changed side featuring several youngsters in the absence of some regular personnel.

One such player was teenager Chester Bell who looked lively throughout and was one of Corinthians’ main attacking outlets, taking the game to Peel from the first whistle.

The Whites had the first real opportunity of the match when Josh Ridings’ free-kick was deflected wide of Owen Dawson’s goal.

The same player went close again a few minutes later when Bell latched onto a fine crossfield pass from the returning Dan Simpson and delivered a low cross to Ridings whose flick was blocked well by Dawson. After that though, it was Peel who enjoyed a good spell and began to create the better chances, Tomas Brown twice going close to opening the scoring.

First, he was thwarted by a brave block from Whites goalkeeper Jack Corran when played clean through by Lee Gale, before the same player raced onto Andy Crennell’s good pass down the left before cutting inside and arrowing a shot just past the far post.

Gale went close himself just after the half-hour mark when he rose unopposed in the Corinthians area and sent a looping header over the bar.

At the other end of the pitch, Corinthians very nearly took the lead when Simpson released Ridings down the right and the latter’s cross took a wicked deflection off a defender which completely wrongfooted Dawson, but somehow the Peel keeper readjusted and brilliantly saved what looked a certain goal.

Then, just when it looked like the teams would go in goalless at half-time, the westerners broke the deadlock to take control of the game when Robertshaw was in the right place at the right time to bundle the ball home from close range following a cross which caused confusion in the six-yard box.

The Sunset City side very nearly doubled their lead seconds after half-time when Gale spotted Corran off his line and chipped him from distance, but his 35-yard shot hit the underside of the bar and bounced down just in front of the line as Corinthians survived.

In similar fashion to Peel’s near own goal in the first half, Corinthians very nearly inadvertently put the ball into their own net when a western cross was sliced goalwards by a defender, but Corran produced a superb reaction save to palm the ball to safety.

That save immediately paid dividends for the Whites as the Ballafletcher side dragged themselves level soon after. Danny Gerrard took aim from a free-kick on the left flank and his effort bounced just in front of Dawson which caused the keeper to spill the ball, allowing Simpson to smash home the rebound from close range to make it 1-1.

Peel attempted to respond to the setback and went close to restoring their lead when substitute Joe Quayle cut in from the left and fired goalwards, but his effort cannoned back off the base of the post and away to safety.

A raft of substitutions disrupted the flow of the game thereafter as chances remained at a premium until the final few minutes when Quayle released Brown inside the area but the lively attacker blasted over the bar.

But the latter made up for that miss in the first minute of injury time when he played a fine through ball to sub Whitehead who beat the offisde trap and raced clear before keeping his cool to slot home past Corran and make it 2-1.

The same player then rubberstamped his match-winning cameo moments later when he latched onto another through ball and turned a defender before producing a cheeky rabona to fire past the keeper and complete a 3-1 victory to seal the Charity Shield for Peel.