People often talk about periods of their life being like a roller-coaster ride. If Mousehole’s current form continues this simile will be replaced by “it’s like Mousehole’s start to the 2025 / 2026 season”. Who knows what is around the next bend as the Seagulls make their journey towards…well we just don’t know. But what we do know is that the only predictable thing about this season is that it is totally unpredictable.
In many ways this match was decided by a lucky mistake by the Inkberrow skipper at the coin toss. His manager had told him to kick against the wind if the coin landed in his favour. For some unknown reason the skipper got this wrong and chose to attack the cricket end in the first half.
With the wind at their backs the plucky Midlanders were almost totally dominant in the first forty-five minutes. They had more possession, the first team to do this at Interiora Trungle, they had more shots, ten to the home team’s single effort, and seemed to win every fifty-fifty challenge. With this level of dominance, they may have felt disappointed to be going in only one goal up. If they were disappointed, then the men in green were relieved. As one observer noted; “that’s a two or three goal wind”.
The scoreline was only one nil at the break because the visitors, whilst very much on top, could only place a single shot on target. That was their goal. It came on the half hour when Mousehole were unable to clear from a corner. After a bit of head tennis, then a bit of ping pong, the ball fell to the best player on the pitch, Noah Rubio. The box was filled with bodies between him and the goal but somehow he found a route to the right-hand post and delivered a perfect finish to nestle just inside the upright.
Chances came and went for the Sporting Club but they couldn’t actually trouble Chenoweth with anything on target. At the other end, Mousehole’s only attempt came after forty-five minutes and it was blocked well before it could become a problem.
Mousehole emerged for the second half knowing that the onus was on them to take the game by the scruff of the neck and for the first few minutes they did so. The best chance fell to Jack Symons when new-boy Kaleb Kadimashi found space on the left to deliver a perfect cross to the little fella. Symo didn’t have to leap to make contact and got good strength in the attempt but the keeper predicted its flight and caught it easily.
That was as good as it got for the home side. As hard as they tried they couldn’t play the fluid football they are known for. Sometimes you can only play as well as the opposition let you, and on this occasion SCI were dogged in defence and composed when they had the ball even in the face of the strong wind. Mousehole were never able to build up a head of steam to create sufficient pressure to burst the visiting banks.
As often happens, when the referee indicated the time to be added on, both sides complained. It was too much in the opposition’s opinion and not enough as far as the home side were concerned. The neutral observer would have felt that it didn’t really matter. Mousehole did not have the combination to unlock the Inkberrow defence and in the end the visitors deserved their victory. Their manager’s sprint and leap down the line when the whistle came showed how much it meant to them as another three points drifted away on the Penwith wind.
