Hayle 3 Foxhole 1

[Darin Morse]

Hayle 3 Foxhole 1

Saturday 15th October 2011

Hayle avenged last week's defeat to record a comfortable victory at a sunny Trevassack Park, and could easily have racked up several goals against Foxes who were simply unable to get close enough to the likes of Ford and Lawrence, the latter's presence with that of the equally diminutive referee Howes prompting fond recollections of grainy episodes of The Borrowers. In a breathtaking opening quarter hour, Ford tamely side-footed wide following unselfish play from outside-left Duncan and was twice denied by fine saves from Holland, who also spectacularly tipped over a close-range effort from Thomas following a scramble as the home team's swift attacks up the slope exposed the visitors' dangerously high line. However, Foxhole too had their moments, Spaul robbing Uren on the halfway line to run clear only to fire against the legs of Carter, while an anxious looking Harris failed to deal with Adam Holland's hopeful punt but Cunningham's lob dropped the wrong side of the upright.

With Hayle seemingly threatening every time they went forward, it was no great surprise when they took the lead on twenty-two minutes. Stephen was caught underneath a high ball, Thomas then squaring to Ford who was brought down just inside the box by Hazeldine for Ford himself to despatch the penalty. The unmarked Duncan should have doubled the lead within seconds, weakly heading over Thomas' centre from six yards, the rest of the half predominantly following a predictable pattern of attack versus defence, although Cunningham did see a drive gathered by Carter on the half hour. To add to visiting woes, Griffin's high foot on debutant Timmins was deemed worthy of a caution, Uren also seeing yellow prior to the break for a crude challenge on Spaul.

Six minutes into the second half, Shorthouse's cross from the right was tapped home by Duncan to make it 2-0, followed shortly by Thomas somehow being unable to convert an open goal once Lawrence's shot had rebounded kindly to him off the legs of the keeper. With nothing to lose Foxhole did briefly rally, Griffin choosing to head across rather than towards goal, Trudgian's free kick being pushed away by Carter while Cunningham twice went close, his low centre flashing across the six yard box and his lob following a clever assist from Spaul again not struck with sufficient conviction to find the net. Griffin's inevitable second yellow with eighteen minutes left after a tussle with Harris, who was shown a straight red, appeared to dash any hopes of an unlikely fightback, but the opposite was true, the Foxes finally shortening their passing amidst a host of substitutions. Ten minutes from time Cooper fouled Trudgian, whose subsequent spot-kick easily beat Carter to reward the tangible improvement, but the clearer opportunities were still to fall to Hayle, and to Thomas in particular, the striker squandering two more golden chances before the final whistle. On eighty-seven, Roberts' brilliant thirty-yarder flew past Holland to seal the points, there still being time for Lawrence to toe-poke wide Palmer's deep cross from virtually on the line to deny the home team the scoreline their overall superiority probably warranted.

Foxhole (4-4-2): Ryan Holland; Lee Hazeldine (sub. Charlie Jones), Sam Kenny (sub. Ryan Wilkins), Adam Holland, Ryan Stephen; Ben Spaul, Richard Faircloth, Adam Trudgian, Pete May (sub. Jamie Coates); Richard Griffin, Shaun Cunningham.

Hayle (4-3-3): Shaun Carter; Ed Timmins, Mark Uren, Keiron Harris, Joe Cooper; Kevin Lawrence, Jason Roberts, Carl Shorthouse; Matt Thomas (sub. Matthew Curtis), Danny Ford (sub. Matt Frost), Ross Duncan (sub. Adam Palmer).

Referee: Mr Andre Howes (Mousehole).

[danny7]

was a cracking game of football it could of ended up 8 or 9 for us but the keeper was the main key to foxholes team he was class again