Foxhole 1 Porthleven 2

[Darin Morse]

Foxhole 1 Porthleven 2

Saturday 5th March 2011

An own goal eight minutes from time by Bradley Ralph condemned ten-man Foxhole to yet another defeat after a desperately lacklustre display which saw visiting keeper Pennington a virtual spectator until Griffin's equaliser only two minutes earlier. That said, both Adam Holland and Griffin squandered good chances by planting free headers too high during a frenetic first half, although Ryan Holland was twice called upon to deny the lively Fox as Porthleven turned the screw. Nine minutes prior to the break, the out of sorts Rescorl, occupying an unfamiliar central midfield position, was cautioned for a foul on Russell, which prompted an immediate switch also involving Bird and Kempthorne, at least ensuring the home team completed the opening period in the ascendancy.

Alas, Foxhole were unable to maintain the momentum after changing ends, and almost fell behind straightaway but Lawrence was slow to react; it was only a temporary reprieve, however, as Fox showed admirable poise to find the net on 49 minutes. The visitors' towering central defenders Tarrant and Burr were then treated to some heading practice, the Foxes' response lacking a certain finesse as the quality of the game deteriorated noticeably, while Searle and Adlard saw yellow for fouls on Bird and Rescorl respectively. Eleven minutes from the final whistle, Egan was dismissed for a wild challenge on Lawrence, but Griffin's fine finish from James' assist offered hope of a rare point, and Burr soon cleared off the line from Bird. However, when Ralph inadvertently directed Adlard's low cross into his own net the die was cast, although Griffin may yet have salvaged a draw in stoppage time but pulled his shot wide.

Foxhole (4-4-2): Ryan Holland; Joe Egan, Matt May, Adam Holland, Bradley Ralph; Michael Kempthorne, James Cutlan (sub. Glyn James), Tom Rescorl, Ben Spaul; Richard Griffin, CJ Bird.

Porthleven (4-4-2); Richard Pennington; Jordan Adlard, Ed Timmins, Dan Tarrant, Jamie Burr; Dominic Batchelor, Matt Fox, James Thompson (sub. Rob Robinson), Justin Searle; Chris Lawrence (sub. Danny Greet), Tom Rescorl.

Referee: Mr Ian Spurling (Saltash).