Troy Pennycooke-Morgan PHOTO/Shelley Bowie
BLOKES SUCH as Troy Pennycooke-Morgan only come around once in a blue moon in footballing circles.
The Hawke's Bay United player is a breath of fresh air when it comes to assessing self-worth in his limited time on the park during the ASB Premiership campaign this summer.
The 22-year-old versatile winger, who can assume the mantle of striker if the need arises, is happy to take constructive criticism from the media when he fails to measure up on game day.
"That's how you learn and get better," says Pennycooke-Morgan before he jets off with the team to Christchurch for the 3pm kick off against Canterbury United at the ASB Football Park today.
The Brett Angell and Leon Birnie-coached Bay franchise team will be without captain Ross Haviland who is serving a match suspension for accumulating four yellow-card cautions.
Fellow Aucklander and striker Sean Lovemore also isn't available because he is attending a friend's wedding.
Injured English goalkeeper Joshua Hill returns while the Bay pair of midfielder Rudi Bauerfeind and defender Bayley Chadderton come into the equation.
Angell confirmed Napier City Rovers English import Ryan Tinsley will slip on the captain's armband although the coach is an advocate of everyone taking ownership in the height of battle for the third-placed Bay over the fourth-placed Dragons.
Nevertheless, Pennycooke-Morgan is returning from an injury, after he "collapsed on his knee" to be subbed in the 2-1 victory over Wanderers Soccer Club in Auckland on November 16.
"I was absolutely devastated to learn I was going to be out for so long. I'm more than overwhelmed to be back," he says, attending his first training last Sunday since "doing the medial ligament" of his knee for the first time.
It was quite a blow on the Astroturf, not that he was blaming it.
The Canadian national also is brutally honest about his minimal contribution since a good pre-season build up.
"I haven't really come to terms with Brett's style of play," says the former Sheffield United academy player who started at the age of 12 and got up to the reserves grade but didn't make the cut.
Pennycooke-Morgan says he's used to "free-flowing football to let people express themselves".
"I'm not saying Brett doesn't allow us do that but his style requires us to be forward. You really have to be switched on all the time because if one person is out of position it becomes a problem for the whole team."
The Angell-type structured approach, he says requires them to always get the ball down and look forward.
"He wants patience without the ball but I want to be patient with the ball."
The son of English-born Patricia Morgan and Bob Pennycooke is indebted to his parents from Ottawa for their undying support in pursuing his career.
"They are my everything. They took me to England and stayed there for two weeks so I could fit in with my foster family."
His parents' love of sports made it an easy path. His siblings, brother Kadeem, 24, in Ottawa, and sister Chantelle, 32, of Toronto, also were beneficiaries of that support.
Team Taranaki coach Ian McGrath sounded him out while he was playing in Sweden last year but Pennycooke-Morgan didn't want to leave his Swedish side, Ostersund FK, half way through their season.
McGrath instead recommended the Canada U20 national rep to Angell for the summer.
"I guess my CV was good enough," says the player who is realising the dream of playing in a country's premier league.
-Canterbury Utd: 1. Danny Knight (RGK), 2. Dan Terris, 4. Julyan Collet, 5. Tom Schwarz, 6. Mark Peers, 7. Miles John, 8. Aaron Clapham, 9. Mario Hofmann, 11. Andrew Barton, 15. Dan Schwarz, 16. Thomas Leabouran-Ross, 17. Ashley Wellbourn, 18. Pablo Moya, 20. Stuart Kelly, 22. Adam Highfield (GK), 24. Cory Mitchell.
Coach: Sean Devine.
-Hawke's Bay Utd: 1. Joshua Hill, 2. Wade Randle, 5. Finlay Milne, 6. Ryan Tinsley, 7. Troy Pennycooke-Morgan, 8. Alex Palezevic, 10. Viktor Lekaj, 11. Mario Alberto Barcia, 16. Leon Birnie, 19. Facundo Barbero, 20. Harry Morton, 21. Kosuke Mimaki, 22. Billy Scott, 24. Fane Morgan, 26. William Stockill (RGK), Rudi Bauerfeind, Bayley Chadderton.
Coach: Brett Angell. Ast coach: Leon Birnie.