Post by Dave on Nov 17, 2012 10:20:20 GMT
Foxhole United V Teign Village 10/11/2012
South Devon League Division Three…… Venue Belfield Paignton . Kick=off 2.30pm
With both Stoke Gabriel and Galmpton playing away today and not wanting to travel to far away from home, I decided to go and watch the game taking place at Belfield between Foxhole United and Teign Village . It’s a good few years since I have watched a game at Belfield and it was when Ant signed for Foxhole from Paignton United.
After a nice sunny morning in the Bay it decided to rain just as the game was about to kick-off, fortunately it was only a shower and later into the match the sun decided to come back out again. Before the kick-off there was a minutes silence for tomorrow’s Remembrance Day.
Foxhole only had the eleven players to start the match so had to make sure they did not do anything that would have seen them have a player sent off. I have to say before I go on that I think football at this level is greatly improving and the standard of play has risen greatly over the last few years. Maybe it’s all that premiership football on the telly these young lads watch? Maybe it’s because there does not seem so many old men playing these days.
Foxhole straight from the kick-off took control of the game and were soon in front thanks to Rob Highfield. A free kick was awarded to Foxhole out on the right hand side close to the touch line. The ball was fired high into the box and fell for Rob at the back post and he rifled the ball into the net.
It looked as if John Bolus had made it two for Foxhole as he got on the end of a long ball and found himself clear in on goal. He made no mistake with his shot, but as he took it the ref blew up claiming the ball had been handled. The next chance for Foxhole came for Grant Willicot who I think must be the captain of Foxhole, his headed chance from the edge of the area only just cleared the crossbar.
It was all one way traffic and no real surprise that Foxhole added to their lead. This time after some excellent play by Rob Highfield who went on a good run and finished it off with a neat pass across the box to John Bolas who fired the ball into the net pass the stranded Teign Village keeper.
Almost straight from the restart Foxhole grabbed themselves a third goal and it was another defence splitting through ball that went to Rob Highfield who only had the keeper to be beat and he made no mistakes passing the ball past the keeper and into the net.
Up at the other end Teign Village mounted a very rare attack as their number ten jinked his way into the Foxhole box and was clearly chopped down by a Foxhole defender. The most stonewall penalty you will ever see, but the ref did not see it that way. The lose ball fell to Teign's number eleven on the right hand edge of the box who hit the ball first time but it flew high over the crossbar.
The ref blew up for halftime and it gave Foxhole a chance to check up on their young player Curtis Clarke, who was my man of the match. He has just reached the age of seventeen and was the smallest player out on the pitch, but what a great player he is with very quick feet, an eye for a good pass and surprising strong on the ball. His ankles were very sore and he was told to try and take it easy for the second half as he would be needed for their next match. He gave is all still in the second half and got his just rewards.
So onto the second half and very soon Foxhole made it four goals to nil. A long hopeful ball had been played wide into space on the right hand side of the pitch level with the goal area and close to the touch line. The Teigns keeper went racing out to the ball and got to it first but made a very poor clearance. The ball ended up at the feet of Curis Clarke some 35 yards away from goal and over on the right hand side of the pitch. He looked up and hit a delightful shot that ended up in the top left hand corner of the goal.
The Teign Village players continued to battle away but they seldom were able to get the ball towards the Foxhole goal. They did have one very good chance after a Foxhole defender got caught napping on the ball after failing to clear what should have been a routine straight forward clearance. He got robbed by Teigns number nine who only then had the keeper to beat, but dragged his shot across the goal and the ball bobbled past the left hand post.
Hungry for even more goals, Foxhole went on attack after attack and I was so pleased to see young Curis Clarke score his second goal of the match. It came about after some very neat passing by the Foxhole players up to and in around the box. The final pass found Curtis inside the box who then cleverly chipped the ball into the net.
The Teigns keeper made a number of good saves during the match and did well to block Rob Highfields effort after he found himself on a one on one with the keeper. The ball then fell to Curtis Clarke who also saw his shot get blocked before ending up back at the feet of Rob Highfield who hit his shot over the crossbar.
Just after this one of the Foxhole players walked off the pitch after feeling he was unable to continue playing and further part in the game. With no subs to bring on it meant Foxhole were down to ten men. A short while later after a crunching tackle, Foxholes Don Beech had to go off as well leaving just nine men out on the pitch for Foxhole.
It did not matter as at that stage the Teign Village players knew they were already well beaten and allowed Foxhole to dominate the last fifteen minutes of the match and add a further two goals as well.
Goal number six was a good individual goal by John Bolus who got on the end of a good through ball out wide on the left hand side of the pitch. He headed in and across the box to get a good shooting angle and placed his shot past the Teigns keeper.
With the game nearly over Foxholes John Bolus was brought down in the box by the Teigns keeper and up stepped Rob Highfield to bury the spot kick past the keeper.
A very enjoyable game to watch with seven goals into the bargain, my thanks goes to the Foxhole manager who offered to write down the names of his players for me.
Some match action photos
