Foxhole 1 Hayle 1

[Darin Morse]

Foxhole 1 Hayle 1

Saturday 21st August 2010

A stoppage time equaliser from substitute Chris Bullock denied the Foxes the victory their battling performance warranted from a typically hard-fought encounter, but they will rue their inability to show ruthlessness in front of goal. However, although Griffin dragged an shot wide inside nine seconds, Hayle settled the quicker and ought to have scored three times early on. On three minutes, Matthews' inswinging corner was headed wide by an unmarked Cooper, and, four minutes later, Thomas outmuscled Rowe to set up Pugh, but the striker's effort was tame before only a great last-ditch tackle by Ralph prevented Pugh from capitalising on Bird's dalliance. Foxhole offered little until Body left two defenders trailing in his wake only to fire a left-foot drive too high, while Friendship's spectacular volley was dealt with by the diving keeper. Rowe, who had just been cautioned for dissent, then released Body for another attempt at goal, before the home skipper tried his luck from distance during a period when Holland was only called into action to divert Palmer's fiercely-struck free-kick around the post.

Foxhole continued on the offensive after the break. A fine challenge by Cooper, who had earlier been involved in a tussle which ended in a booking for Griffin meaning the marine was again forced to walk a disciplinary tightrope until his withdrawal, denied Body but the frontman opened his account on 52 minutes, crashing home Bird's low centre from close-range. Within four minutes of his arrival as a replacement for the ineffective Pugh, Withers somehow avoided a quickfire dismissal after a poor challenge on Ralph who had to hobble off, before the Hayle striker could only nod over Thomas' deep cross with the net gaping. The match continued to be entertainingly feisty, Cooper seeing yellow for a foul on Warne, while Kempthorne's caution for catching Troon was incredibly harsh but the points appeared to be heading for Goverseth as the visitors were pinned back. However, Cheal palmed away Body's effort and Friendship's indecision when clean through allowed Troon to recover before Rowe's close-range header from Warne's free-kick cannoned back into play as the killer second goal proved elusive. Sure enough, Matthews' dribble at the death presented Bullock with a chance he could hardly miss.

Foxhole (3-5-2): Ryan Holland 7; Adam Holland 7, Lee Whetter 7, Bradley Ralph 8 (sub. Gareth Geach 7); CJ Bird 6, Jason Warne 7, Michael Kempthorne 7, Kyle Friendship 6, Mark Rowe 6; Michael Body 7, Richard Griffin 6 (sub. Ross Pinhammer 7).

Hayle (4-4-2): Davy Cheal; Zack Williams, Kieran Harris (sub. Chris Bullock), Joe Cooper, Rob Troon; Gary Matthews, Matt Thomas, Rob Johns, Gary Bell; Adam Palmer, Chris Pugh (sub. Andy Withers).

Referee: Mr Paul Murphy (Truro) 6.

[hansome dan]

A good performance from a hayle side that only contained goalkeeper Davy Cheal from last season,s team.We should have been well clear by half-time but agree foxhole performed better in second half without really troubling Davy.Proud of the players today especially the 8 "locals" who have returned/stepped up and gave 100% and did,nt look out of place in this league.

And Darin,when did a Bullock last miss a chance at foxhole? :yahoo:

[cornishman]

I dont think Foxhole warranted the result.

It was a close game but best chances particularly early on went to Hayle who should have been 3 goals up and out of sight in 20 minutes.Thereafter a tight physical game where both sides were committed and two players were lucky to end without reds...one from each side.

Neither keeper really troubled to any great extent so a close result.

As its the 1st compeditive game for the new look Hayle side it was a pretty good start.

[Dave Deacon]

Foxhole 1, Hayle 1

Foxhole: Ryan Holland, Adam Holland, CJ Bird, Lee Whetter, Bradley Ralph (sub. Gareth Geach), Kyle Friendship, Michael Kempthorne, Mark Rowe ©, Richard Griffin (sub. Ross Pinhammer), Mike Body, Jason Warne

Hayle: Davy Cheal, Zack Williams, Kieran Harris (sub. Chris Bullock), Joe Cooper, Rob Troon ©, Rob Johns, Matt Thomas, Gary Bell, Adam Palmer, Chris Pugh (sub. Andy Withers), Gary Matthews

Despite the home side threatening first through Richard Griffin who went close almost straight from the kick-off, the visitors came back well with two great chances.The first saw an unmarked Joe Cooper head over from a Gary Matthews' corner,and then Chris Pugh failed to make the most of a Matt Thomas cross.

Free scoring Foxhole striker Mike Body always looked the most likely on the home side to break the deadlock and after 18 minutes he made space along the edge of the penalty area before shooting over.

Soon after Griffin headed over before skipper Mark Rowe had his name entered into referee Paul Murphy's note book for a yellow card after fouling Matthews.

The visitors rallied with pacy forward Adam Palmer seeing his free-kick force 'keeper Ryan Holland to palm away the moving ball to safety, while Dave Cheal, in the opposite goal, was brought into action saving from Kyle Friendship.

Matthews cut in from the right but screwed his shot wide, and as manager John Dent was demanding his side should "play the ball on the deck", Palmer showed his speed as he got to the ball ahead of the advancing goally, but slipped as looking to play the ball back. As did Chris Pugh when he was shaping up to collect the pass!

Before the end of the first-half Foxhole's No. 9 Griffin became the second player of the match to be shown a yellow card – this one for lifting his arm in a challenge with Zack Williams.

Goalless at the break, but Hayle's boss Dent was surely wondering if his side would regret rueing those early misses!

Hayle came out after the break and Thomas put in a dangerous cross from the left which floated across the face of the Foxhole net and could have crept in at the back post.

Play went straight up to the other end and a Foxhole break finished with Cooper and Griffin forehead to forehead, but worse was to happen to Hayle seconds later as Body touched home a low right wing deflected cross from CJ Bird.

Andy Withers was brought on upfront for Hayle, replacing Pugh and was quickly into the action for the wrong reason as he got involved with an off the ball incident with Bradley Ralph. The Foxhole faithful in the B J Grose stand left the referee in no mind as to what they thought he should have shown Withers, and it wasn't a yellow card!

Gareth Geach came on for the subsequently injured Ralph, while midway through the second half Chris Bullock replaced Keiron Harris as Hayle tried to force Foxhole back. Withers rose to get a good head on another Thomas cross, but it looped just over the bar, while Body watched an ambitious volley of his go skywards!

Griffin was immediately replaced by manager Glyn Rowett after he was fortunate to escape a second yellow when kicking the ball away after being penalised for being offside, but Hayle's central defender Cooper wasn't so lucky after an innocent but clumsy challenge on Jason Warne.

The closing stages saw action at both ends as Foxhole's Rowe went close to securing a home win but hit the upright with a far post header from a free-kick before team-mate Michael Kempthorne got a yellow card for a harmless trip and then substitute Ross Pinhammer half-volleyed over.

However,the visitors had the last word as in the third minute of stoppage time Chris Bullock (pictured below seconds before coming into the match) turned in a cross from Matthews to send Hayle home with a deserved point along with manager Dent pleased with his new side's performance as he admits his young outfit are on a "steep learning curve". "We missed 2 or 3 first-half sitters, went off the boil a bit in the second, resorting to Route 1 football, which isn't our style."

[Crouchy]

A good performance from a hayle side that only contained goalkeeper Davy Cheal from last season,s team.We should have been well clear by half-time but agree foxhole performed better in second half without really troubling Davy.Proud of the players today especially the 8 "locals" who have returned/stepped up and gave 100% and did,nt look out of place in this league.

And Darin,when did a Bullock last miss a chance at foxhole?

Hope your not proud of all your players Hansom Dan, you failed to mention Withers's cowardly act of stamping down the back of my achilles after play had moved up field, and all because he was made to look silly by an old man! well done to the rest of your lads who worked hard all game and defo deserverd their point, some of them actually had the grace to apologise for their team mates poor sportsmanship, which now leaves me wandering how many games i'll miss.

all the best for the rest of the season

[hansome dan]

Crouchy.....sorry to hear of your injury and hope you recover soon.We will investigate the incident internally as hayle fc will not accept bad behaviour by anyone at the club.We were only saying at halftime how well disciplined our lads were and how pleasing it was to see.No moaning or disputing the refs decisions today and only one other booking and that was for an innocent challenge that was made just after the ref decided to change the rules and not book Griff for kicking the ball away?

Hope your back playing soon and good luck for the rest of the season from everyone at hayle,it was nice to see Lee and mike back too.

[Crouchy]

Crouchy.....sorry to hear of your injury and hope you recover soon.We will investigate the incident internally as hayle fc will not accept bad behaviour by anyone at the club.We were only saying at halftime how well disciplined our lads were and how pleasing it was to see.No moaning or disputing the refs decisions today and only one other booking and that was for an innocent challenge that was made just after the ref decided to change the rules and not book Griff for kicking the ball away?

Hope your back playing soon and good luck for the rest of the season from everyone at hayle,it was nice to see Lee and mike back too.

Indeed Dan, Denty has put together a good group of lads and on the whole it was a well contested game. discipline is also something we'll be working on, as you can see we've got our work cut out with Griff and others(i'm not saying i'm a saint mind) but hopefuly we'll learn. As for the injury, i'm hopeful that when the swelling has gone down and i get it moving I won't miss too much, can't afford to at my age!

look forward to seeing you later in the season :c: