Millbrook 1 Foxhole 1

[Darin Morse]

Millbrook 1 Foxhole 1

Saturday 15th August 2009

A draw was probably about right after a keenly contested ninety minutes where defences generally dominated. However, Foxhole will be disappointed that, after creating the better chances overall, and deservedly taking the lead during their best spell after the break, they soon went into their shell to allow the home team to snatch an equaliser.

Pinhammer went closest early on, his 25-yard drive skimming the top of the bar, while, from Kenny's outswinging corner on the quarter hour, Nicholls's flick header was cleared off the line by Keating but only as far as McKellar, whose header was spectacularly tipped over by Gill. Griffin narrowly missed connecting to Rowe's assist, before Rowe backheaded wide a long throw from Pinhammer, whose bad luck continued when Gill dived smartly to save his snapshot. While Richards nodded Curran's centre too high, Ryan Holland's sole moment of panic in the first half came when he fumbled Applegate's throw-in and was appreciative of Kenny's help, before reacting well to home captain Dan Gill's follow-up effort.

Aware they ought to be leading, the Foxes went for the jugular after the break and opened the scoring within nine minutes when Griffin latched on to Nicholls' clever through-ball to calmly round Gill. This signalled the arrival of Rothwell whose first contribution was to clear from the line Rowe's header from another Kenny corner. Unfortunately this proved Foxhole's last threat until the dying embers of the match as Millbrook took control of a midfield in which the influence of Ansell and Hazeldine was, by now, greatly reduced, although the visitors' central defensive trio continued to offer admirable cover to their keeper. Nevertheless, soon after Keating shot wide following a flowing move, Curran levelled from twelve yards on 73 minutes after the Foxes were unable to deal with one of a series of dangerous crosses. At the death, Griffin twice raced clear but could not repeat his earlier show of composure.

Foxhole (3-5-2): Ryan Holland; Adam Holland, Tony McKellar, Daniel Meens; Sam Kenny, Richard Griffin, Scott Ansell, Mark Rowe, Lee Hazeldine (sub. Nick Carpenter); Ross Pinhammer (sub. Dexter Lawrence), Liam Nicholls (sub. Chris Grose).

Millbrook (4-5-1): James Gill; Dan Gill, Dean Keating, Ryan Thomason, Darrell Johnson; Ben Applegate (sub. Tom Rothwell), Chris Curran, Jason Richards, Jamie Preston (sub. Lewis Ashford), Jamie Jones; Chris Belsdon.

Referee: Mr Darren Thompson (South Devon).