Penzance 1 Foxhole 0

[Darin Morse]

Penzance 1 Foxhole 0

Saturday 7th February 2009

After last week's shambles, Foxhole restored a huge amount of pride with a gritty display, and were unlucky not to snatch an equaliser their spirited performance warranted. The Foxes were on the back foot for most of the first half but their disciplined defence and combative midfield ensured Ryan Holland was rarely extended. Rowe was outstanding, his only blemish a booking for a foul on Drummond, while Hobbs successfully nullified any threat from Westgarth; the biggest danger was provided by Hooper, who would often cause a dilemma for Rowe by dropping deep, but on 36 minutes he ran beyond beyond the visiting rearguard to slide Drummond's ball under the keeper from close range. Although Vercesi saw a free header saved from Reski's cross, Penzance's attacks were generally lacking in invention to seriously threaten a killer second goal, but, despite some clever build up play, sole Foxhole forward Rickard was inevitably finding it tough going and was also cautioned before the break for retaliation against Ludlam.

Once Howlett had headed over Vercesi's centre at the far post soon after the restart, Foxhole gained control and frequently appeared capable of exposing a shaky looking Magpies defence, but were unfortunately still unable to offer sufficient support to the hard-working Rickard. Nevertheless he went agonisingly close with a spectacular overhead kick, and he was always prepared to try his luck from distance, but his best opportunity came 14 minutes from time when he latched on to Hawke's astute pass but fired over the bar under challenge from Street. Richardson's caution for a lunge on Prince demonstrated clearly that Penzance were rattled but Foxhole fell just short where it mattered, the lack of a second striker ultimately proving crucial.

Foxhole (4-5-1): Ryan Holland 7; Matt May 7, Jason Warne 7, Mark Rowe 9, Phil Hobbs 8; Andrew Butler 6 (sub. Richard Hawke 7), Liam Nicholls 7, Lewis Prince 8, Adam Holland 7, Kyle Friendship 7; Carl Rickard 7.

Penzance (4-3-3): Sid Taylor; Mark Holland, Johnny Ludlum, Hugh Howlett, James Street; Mark Vercesi, Justin Harrington, Chris Reski; Glyn Hooper, Matt Drummond (sub. James Miller), Andrew Westgarth (sub. Dan Richardson).

Referee: Mr Alan Hoon (Illogan) 6.