Hayle 0 Foxhole 1

[Darin Morse]

Hayle 0 Foxhole 1

Saturday 3 rd January 2009

Having a fortnight off at Christmas, I've got used to staying in bed till dinnertime but such laziness made me late this morning and I was rushing around when the doorbell went. I really didn't have time to waste on callers and I impatiently asked the woman on the step what she wanted. She said she was collecting for an IVF clinic. Well, I gave her a right mouthful, I can tell you. This reduced her to a jibbering wreck and she found herself unable to speak. "Come on", I said with some irritation, "spit it out. I've got a match to go to" before eventually slamming the door.

Luckily the A30 was fairly quiet so I was able to catch up some time and, five miles west of Camborne, I came across a road sign saying "Welcome to Hayle". In smaller letters underneath, there were some words written in Cornish I couldn't understand which, given the barren landscape of the place and its lack of atmosphere, may translate as "twinned with the set of the Clangers". Indeed, I was half expecting the Soup Dragon to spring out from a volcanic well to offer me a bowl of blue string pudding to warm me up in the freezing weather. Typically, I was held up on the outskirts of the town by a huge traffic jam queueing to enter Lidl's car park. Retail therapy is evidently west Cornwall's number one pastime - in a recent survey, 58 % of residents asked for their favourite leisure activity replied 'shopping', while 4 % said they didn't understand the question. Global warming experts predict that rising sea levels could mean that virtually all of Cornwall may be flooded by the end of the century, but you get the impression the locals would happily swim through Hayle and high water provided Lidl's had been safely moved to the top of a hill in time.

Foxhole can count themselves fortunate to have come away with the points after spending most of the match on the back foot, but Rowe was again imperious and central midfielders Bromley and Prince covered huge amounts of ground to ensure that, for all their possession, Hayle rarely extended Ryan Holland. Attacking towards the clubhouse in the first half, Hayle were to go close through House's snapshot from 20 yards before Wayne Quinn's incisive ball allowed Palmer to cut inside, but Holland was equal to the drive. A good move saw Johns release Mann whose shot flew narrowly wide but the Foxes gradually began to exploit some hesitant home defending and, after Rowe had tamely headed Warne's free-kick into the arms of Cheal, Rowe's long pass saw Griffin outpace Johns to calmly lob the keeper from the edge of the box on 39. Within moments, Rickard's flick sent Griffin away again to outmuscle Liam Quinn, but this time the shot was scuffed. Hayle almost levelled just before the break but the impressive Shiels' daisy-cutter was well saved, and Foxhole changed ends optimistic they could extend their lead down the slope.

The first half had also seen Mann's caution for dissent,and he was joined in the book soon after the restart by Johns, although his misdemeanour was unclear, and, inevitably, by Griffin, for playing on after the whistle, as Hayle quickly gained the ascendancy. A home equaliser appeared most likely to come from Wayne Quinn's pinpoint dead-ball delivery, from which both Shiels and the otherwise excellent Liam Quinn thumped close-range headers over the bar. The Foxes had to resort to some desperate defending at times as their strikers were unable to hold the ball up sufficiently to relieve the pressure, but the sole genuinely heart-stopping moment came seven minutes from time when Warne's wayward clearance left Holland back-pedalling furiously, but substitute Sean Quinn failed to convert the loose ball with the net gaping. In fairness, Foxhole created some opportunities to seal victory, with Bromley's thunderbolt the best, while Butler pulled an effort off target before he received a yellow card at the death for delaying a free-kick, but the final whistle was greeted with huge relief.

Foxhole (4-4-2): Ryan Holland 7; Matt May 6, Jason Warne 7, Phil Hobbs 8, Mark Rowe 9; Andrew Butler 6, Richard Griffin 6, Lewis Prince 8, Adam Bromley 7 (sub. Adam Holland 5); Liam Nicholls 6, Carl Rickard 6.

Hayle (4-4-2): Dave Cheal; Rob Johns, Andy Frost, Liam Quinn, Dean Mooney; Adam Palmer, Ryan Stephens, Wayne Quinn, Shaun Mann; Andy House (sub. Sean Quinn), Matt Shiels.

Referee: Mr Rigas Gatzianidis (Helston) 7.

[Guest Peppermint]

Another classic report Darin - not as many cards distributed as during last Saturday's match then.

[pete dillon]

Is Steve Capeling still playing for the foxes Darin ? - haven't seen his name mentioned recently.

[dave bunt]

Pete, Capeling is out injured should be back in training soon according to Billy

[Spider]

Gold.

[St Darren]

I noticed Quinn's comments about the referee in todays West Briton, we had him at Mullion a few weeks ago, and he was shocking!!! wanted the managers to fill in a form before the game for his own records on everything and then proceeded to book as many players as he could in a short space of time.

However, he refereed our reserves at St Day and the Cat said he had a very good game!! Strange how our opinions differ

[hansome dan]

lets just say he was,nt helped by his 2 linesman,think they were having some kind of competition,actually they were more interesting than the match

and it was,nt the usual mr bunt before he says