Willand 4-1 Mousehole
The statistics from the history of football going back to the days when the boots were hobnail and the shirts were woollen all suggest that if you score the first goal you have an eighty percent chance of winning the game and a ninety percent chance of not losing. For a number of season Mousehole AFC defied logic, statistics and history. This was a night when they would have preferred not to but in this thrice re-arranged fixture they did.
A classic Tallan Mitchell and Mousehole goal in the third minute should have been the hors d’oeuvre to a fabulous relegation-fear relieving away victory. It wasn’t.
Let’s enjoy the goal. A nice move down the left set Hayden Turner free with grass to run in to. He ran, looked up and saw Mitchell at the far post. The pass evaded the defence and found the diminutive number ten at the far post and he slid it home from a tight angle. To say that was as good as it got would be an understatement.
It’s not unfair to suggest that from here on in it was men against boys as a beautiful start turned in to a horrible night. The wheels started to come off less than ten minutes later. A long straight ball from the Willand keeper led to chaos in the Mousehole defence. Ollie , Kaleb and Joel all went for the same ball along with a forward. They all arrived at the same time but, crucially, the Willand forward, who seemed the least likely to get there first, got his head to the ball just before being clattered. Penalty. Goal. One all.
A long straight ball from the Willand full back led to chaos in the Mousehole defence. No one cleared it which left a Willand player, from a seated position, to play the ball into a team mate’s path to roll it home. Two one.
On the half hour, the home side had a free kick near the half way line. I’m copy and pasting the next bit, it’s easier; A long straight ball from the Willand player led to chaos in the Mousehole defence. This resulted in Sullivan nodding past Chenoweth. Three one. Game over.
The frustrating thing about the second half was that Mousehole had chances. Quite a few chances but Willand’s players put their bodies on the line, literally and metaphorically, to make sure we didn’t score. There was a period during which, had Mousehole scored, the comeback would have been on but these hopes were snuffed out just before the hour.
A throw in on Willand’s left wasn’t cleared, when it could have been, and it fell to a lone striker on the edge of the box. He showed a composure that none of the men in navy managed at the other end when he touched it to his left and passed it inside the far post.
More chances came Mousehole’s way after that but there was little conviction that they could get back into this game. Heads had dropped a long time before the final whistle. Only a few weeks ago there was still the outside chance of a play offbut Mousehole now finds themselves in a relegation scrap.
