Foxhole 4 Okehampton 0

[Darin Morse]

Foxhole 4 Okehampton 0

Saturday 11th December 2010

Gaining their first points since October 16th, Foxhole emphatically avenged their eight-goal annihilation in the reverse fixture with a fantastic display to mark Tony Mackellar's first league game in charge. Despite fielding nine of the same line-up, Okehampton were fortunate not to suffer a total thrashing themselves, as the impressive Foxes attacked with a fluency rarely seen in recent times to create an abundance of chances from the start. The returning Griffin made clear his intentions within two minutes, racing on to the first of many defence splitting passes to fire a shot against the legs of Geering, Kempthorne being unable to keep his follow-up effort down. The rampaging Grose then blasted a fierce drive which made the keeper scramble before Griffin outjumped Williams to head Bird's deep cross inches wide as the Foxes, inspired by the excellent Douglas and Spaul at the heart of the midfield, pinned the visitors in their own box. A goal-bound Griffin effort was blocked by a clearly rattled Entwhistle, while, from the resulting corner, Grose's header was cleared from the line by Alden. Kempthorne, again employed as the main supporting player to a lone frontman, toe-poked an attempt which Geering was equal to, but the keeper could only stand and watch as Spaul nodded over from twelve yards before he was eventually beaten by Griffin's fine angled shot on thirty-four minutes following intelligent work by Palin.

Having offered nothing apart from a deflected chip from Walters which rebounded to safety off the woodwork, Okehampton nearly equalised immediately when Holland had to move smartly to his left to field Saunder's free-kick, but the pattern of the game soon resumed as Foxhole went in search of a deserved killer second goal. Palin again found Griffin, who was proving far too hot to handle for a rearguard who had appeared so composed only six short weeks ago, but the marine's shot on the turn flew over the bar, while Grose, overlapping from full-back like a latter-day Francisco Marinho, allowed Geering to gather easily after running too wide on to a return pass from Griffin, whose final effort of an exhilarating first-half was fortuitously deflected over by Wren.

Despite the dominance of the Foxes, the home faithful feared it may be one of those days when Kempthorne somehow side-footed wide Palin's brilliant centre with the net gaping,to be followed by a brief flurry of visiting pressure, Walters finding himself all alone only to dally on the ball and Ferguson curling a free-kick against the base of an upright, while Adam Holland was cautioned for bringing down Squire in a threatening position. But Foxhole soon regained the initiative, Bird firing too high from eighteen yards and Douglas heading over from close-range before the combative midfielder reacted first to finish from a few inches once Geering had parried Holland's initial attempt on sixty-three minutes.

With clear daylight now between the sides, the Foxes experimented with Douglas as a forward, and the signs were good that he could strike up an understanding with Griffin, the pair soon combining to good effect to again test the over-worked Geering. The final quarter of an hour saw no respite for the visitors as Griffin went close from another centre by Palin, Holland headed over an inswinging corner by Bird, whose next cross was met powerfully by Douglas' head only for Geering to produce a miraculous save to his left. However, substitute Johns was to notch the third with his first touch on eighty-one minutes, his right-footed effort from the edge of the penalty area creeping in at the near post before Griffin completed the scoring at the death with an absolute thunderbolt from a near impossible angle which will live long in the memory.

Foxhole (4-5-1): Ryan Holland; David Grose, James Cutlan (sub. Richard Faircloth), Adam Holland, Bradley Ralph; CJ Bird (sub. Daniel Allen), Cameron Palin (sub. Bobbylee Johns), Ben Douglas, Ben Spaul, Michael Kempthorne; Richard Griffin.

Okehampton (4-4-2): Harry Geering; Corey Burns (sub. Dale Chadwick), Alex Wren, James Williams, Stuart Entwhistle; Ed Squire (sub. Stuart Cann), Luke Alden, Sam Brooks, Ben Ferguson; Ben Walters, Matt Saunder.

Referee: Mr Ian Pattison (Helston).

[beaves]

hey hey hey BIG bobby back at the den??