Mousehole vs Camelford Match Report

SEAGULLS COME FROM BEHIND TO WIN ‘MILESTONE’ HOME MATCH

MOUSEHOLE 3-2 CAMELFORD

SOUTH WEST PENINSULA LEAGUE, PREMIER WEST

SATURDAY 17TH AUGUST 2019

Mousehole’s first home match at the highest playing level in the club’s history resulted in a hard-fought win and continued their impressive start to the new season with seven points out of nine and second place in the early league table.

But on a perfectly manicured surface Jake Ash’s team found it tough going against the well-organised visitors, and had to step up their game in the second half after trailing by a goal to nil at the interval.

The match was preceded by a respectfully observed minute’s silence in honour of Bill Pearce, a familiar face to many who traveled to RNAS Culdrose in the Combination League days, who died on Friday.

Mousehole were on top in the opening exchanges, coming close three times inside the first seven minutes, keeper Luke Gwillam parrying Kieran Toland’s fierce drive from 18 yards, Amara Bakayoko just unable to reach Steven Ziboth’s cross in front of goal, and Gerens James volleying wide from the same player.

The action continued with Camelford almost snatching the lead with a shot wide of the far post after the hosts had given the ball away in defence, while immediately afterwards James’ header came back off the bar.  Ziboth then had a shot hacked off the line and Seagulls keeper Corey Harvey punched away a dangerous inswinging free kick.

Both sides were trying to play out from the back but Mousehole were looking the more threatening with range of attacking angles, none more so than when Kieran Toland broke through from behind the offside trap with a now-familiar forward run in the 36th minute, only to shoot high and wide when a goal looked certain.

The miss looked particularly costly when Camelford took the lead three minutes later, centre back Leighton Carhart side-footing into the corner from 10 yards out when a long throw from near the corner flag was nodded on.  And after another three minutes it could have been a second goal when Josh Insley burst through on goal with the advancing Harvey winning the one-on-one battle with his feet.

The half-time team talk had an immediate effect as Mousehole completely dominaed the opening quarter-hour with quicker passing and more direct running.  Ziboth forced Gwillam to tip over a 20-yard drive on 51 minutes, and then followed two goals in a devastating four minute spell that completely changed the complexion of the match.  On 57, Kieran Toland took the ball in from the right after some defence-splitting passing and from a narrow angle found the far corner with a low drive for the equaliser. 

Two minutes later the same player had a ‘goal’ disallowed after Bakayoko had crossed from marginally outside the byeline, but The Seagulls were now in full flow and Amara Bakayoko scored a second with a thumping left-footed shot after a short corner had set him up to turn his marker at pace on the edge of the box.

Kieran Toland appeared to have made the game safe with his second goal in the 77th minute as his shot arrowed into the top corner from 20 yards after a Ziboth assist, but last week’s hat-trick scorer was denied another treble after being withdrawn injured five minutes later. 

Ed Harrison brought an unrealistic look to the scoreline and the balance of play with a 25-yard attempt on goal that bounced and swerved past Harvey in the 89th minute to make it 3-2.

Mousehole will be more pleased with the points than the performance, and will need to be at their best throughout the match when they travel the short distance to face Porthleven for their fourth league fixture of the season this Wednesday (21st August, kick off 7.30pm).  Port’s three matches so far have resulted in one win (4-1 at Wadebridge Town), one draw (2-2 at home to Dobwalls on the opening Saturday) and one defeat (2-0 at St Austell last Saturday).

Mousehole:  Corey Harvey, Tyler Tonkin, Billy Curtis (captain), Mark Richards, Paulo Sousa, Lez Cela, Steve Burt, Kieran Toland, Amara Bakayoko, Gerens James, Steven Ziboth.

Substitutes:  Lukas Corner (for Kieran Toland 82), Jamie Devine, Ben Harding, Jake Ash.

Mousehole scorers:  Kieran Toland (51, 77), Amara Bakayoko (61).

Referee: Marc Rose.        Attendance: 76.

Start a Conversation

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.