Hayle 5 Foxhole 3

[Darin Morse]

Hayle 5 Foxhole 3

Saturday 18th December 2010

When Richard Griffin got a faint touch to Adam Holland's 49th-minute free-kick to put Foxhole three up, a repeat of last week's emphatic victory seemed assured but the absence of four of that line-up ultimately proved costly as Hayle ran riot. To be fair, were it not for some pretty tame finishing and for some fine saves, the home team may easily have scored three times inside the opening quarter hour, Daniel Bell, Matt Thomas and the otherwise impressive (and largely unmarked) Gary Bell all squandering golden opportunities. However, it was the visitors who struck first, Rowe firmly heading home Holland's set-piece from six yards, and Kempthorne doubled the advantage three minutes later from a matter of inches when Annear, possibly blinded by the winter sun, made a hash of Faircloth's routine centre. The remainder of the half was uneventful, although the failure to further embarrass a wobbly-looking Annear was a worrying portent.

Arguably, the game's turning point occurred within seconds of Griffin's goal, the same player unlucky to see a goal-bound attempt deflected over by Cooper, who was soon to limp off. Hayle made the most of the let off by hitting back through Thomas' 52nd-minute solo effort, courtesy of the sort of disappointing defending which was to gift-wrap the home team the points over the next twenty-four minutes. The impact of substitutes Richards and Grant was virtually instantaneous, the former twice forcing saves out of the exposed Ryan Holland, who was again beaten on sixty-six by Gary Bell's spot-kick following Ralph's foul on Freethy. The inexperienced and lightweight Foxhole midfield were in danger of being swamped, but not even Kempthorne's switch of roles with the more robust Rowe had any noticeable effect on the rampant Trevassack Park outfit who duly equalised eighteen minutes from time when Thomas ran down the left before delivering a low cross for Daniel Bell to drive into the corner through a mass of legs from the edge of the box. Within moments, Richards had capitalised on Ralph's error to make it 4-3, and the Foxes' woe was completed when Ryan Holland fumbled his brother's headed back-pass for a grateful Thomas to guide the ball into an empty net. While Daniel Bell twice went close to extending the lead, Foxhole did at least threaten on a couple of occasions with Griffin, naturally earlier cautioned for dissent, sliding one particularly presentable chance past the far post. Hayle's victory was deserved, their only blemish being Johns' booking for a word out of turn, but they are nonetheless the sort of opponents Foxhole need to be beating if they are to avoid a relegation dogfight, and reinforcements commensurate to Peninsula League standard can't arrive soon enough.

Foxhole (4-4-2): Ryan Holland; Daniel Allen, Richard Faircloth, Bradley Ralph, Adam Holland; CJ Bird, Cameron Palin (sub. Pete May), Gary Camps (sub. Chris Allen), Michael Kempthorne; Mark Rowe, Richard Griffin.

Hayle (3-5-2): Tom Annear; Rob Johns, Kieron Harris, Joe Cooper (sub. Scott Grant); Billy Curtis (sub. Shane Richards), Zac Williams, Adam Freethy, Gary Bell, Craig Williams; Daniel Bell, Matt Thomas (sub. Elliott Harris).

Referee: Mr Peter Grenfell (Penzance).