Mousehole 1-0 Larkhall
After the disappointment of Wednesday’s early exit from the Cornwall Senior Cup Mousehole needed to bounce back to maintain their push for promotion. The visiting Larkhall have drifted down the table having been in the play-off mix last season but after St Austell nothing could be taken for granted.
Overnight and morning rain had put a little bit of doubt on the fixture going ahead but with the clouds clearing an an eleven o’clock pitch inspection became a formality. The pitch was firm underfoot and by kick off the sun was out and all was set for a glorious day.
As it turned out the result was a good one but the match itself will not last long in the memories of the spectators or players. The only exception to this is the winning goal, which was a text book move but we’ll come back to the later.
In a first half where the home side had a massive sixty eight percent possession one could have expected there to be an avalanche of chances but in total, between the teams mustered just four attempts on goal. The first was for Larkhall from a corner. It was cleared to the edge of the area from where their advancing midfielder volleyed just wide but not close enough to worry Ollie Chenoweth.
That came after twenty or so minutes of a tense affair. Defences were dominant with neither side managing to find space to create opportunities. The nearest either side came to scoring before the goal was actually a back-pass from Hayden Turner. With the ball on the half way line he could see no way forward and punted it towards his own goal. The arc looked like it was heading towards the goal and it caused Chenoweth to scramble towards his left hand post, grateful to see it go out for a corner.
After forty minutes the deadlock was finally broken. It came with the one real quality moment of the match but like a Van Gogh it was worth the entry fee on its own.
It began in the Mousehole penalty are with Chenoweth transferring a back pass from Will Sullivan out to Jack Calver on the left. He took a couple of touches before rolling it to Turner on the half way line. Turner took a single touch and then sent Morgan Lewis chasing further down the left. The Welsh wizard, relishing his return to the West, passed it first time into the box. He was threading a needle as the ball ran ahead of two retreating defenders and in front of a desperate keeper. Only Lewis had seen an onrushing Tim Nixon on the far side. His run, perfectly timed, allowed him to reach the ball on the edge of the six-yard box. The keeper was too late to scramble across and Nixon prodded it home.
Mousehole had a few chances in the second period to sew the game up but couldn’t find that final nail to put into the Larkhall coffin. Nixon came close again from close range, Turner clipped one over the bar following a lovely Sullivan through ball but no one could actually score.
Mousehole’s failure to kill them off gave Larkhall hope that they could save a point late on as the Seagulls had done on the reverse fixture. Suddenly all the play was in Chenoweth’s box and whilst they never seriously threatened to score the final ten minutes were much more nerve-wracking than should have been.
The final whistle came as a relief and extended the Seagulls’ unbeaten run to eight. There were six wins in those eight and if that run can be replicated in the last eight matches of the season Mousehole should finish in second but in football you never know. Stay tuned.
