Kevin Hill's side gave themselves hope this afternoon with what turned out to be a tense victory over Fisher Athletic at Church Road. Having raced into a four goal lead inside 50 minutes, it took a 90th minute Kevin Davies save from Chris Piper's volley to earn the full three points.

The Missioners were out of the traps quickly and could have been ahead within the first minute. Josh Scott took possession just inside the Fisher half before racing at the defence, he was forced wide by his marker but still fired in a shot that keeper Paul Nicholls beat away and when the ball was played back in again his second effort was blocked by the defender.

Will Hendry was just too high from a free-kick before the opener came, Sean Ridgway and Kieran Knight combined before finding the lively Scott who drew Nicholls toward him before placing the ball wide of his dive and into the corner of the net. Such was Hayes' dominance that it was no surprise when the second came just seven minutes later. This time it was Knight and Scott that exchanged passes before putting Ridgway through against Nicholls where he duly clipped the ball over the diving keeper whose touch could only help it into the net.

The 24th minute saw the visitors first attempt at goal as Hamid Barr won the ball and moved forwards only to shoot weakly at Davies. With the Fish offering very little forward thrust, it was the home side for whom the chances continued to flow. Knight flicked on to Ridgway but he was wide with his first time effort and minutes before the break Knight picked off a poor Antonio Gonella pass but his shot was held by Nicholls.

The second half started as only a Hayes fan could have dreamed with two further goals coming within three minutes, both courtesy of Gonella errors. Just 45 seconds had passed when Scott robbed the substitute before rounding Nicholls and rolling the ball home for 3-0. Two minutes later a Gonella pass was picked off by Scott who found Daniel Dyer, his cross just evaded Scott but fell nicely to Knight at the far post where he rammed it past the defender on the line.

Hayes seemed to be cruising and at this stage I cannot believe anybody would have thought this game would end in such a tense fashion, with my colleague Nick Bell nearly having a coronary!!

Even when Fish reduced the arrears on 56 minutes nails were still safe from the biting of, a loose ball on the edge of the box falling nicely to Luke Hickey who saw his 20 yard shot bypass the unsighted Davies and nestle in the corner of the net.

A flurry of chances followed with both sides going close, a long Jamie Jarvis punt saw Scott fire into the side netting before both Gavin Heeroo and Chris Piper failed to hit the target when well placed at the other end. The 65th minute saw Scott fail to complete a hat-trick by a fraction, having beaten the offside trap from a Peter Collins pass, the striker lobbed Nicholls only to see his effort bounce over off the top of the crossbar. Almost immediately Davies was called into action at the other end, Jeff Goulding fed the ball in to Barr but the Hayes stopper was equal to his effort and Jarvis cleared the loose ball to safety.

As the game entered its final ten minutes the visitors looked more likely to score and in fact they did, twice. Goulding went close but Davies palmed his shot away and Barr was just too high with a 20 yard free-kick minutes later. Knight had a chance for number five but Nicholls saved before Goulding was put through by Piper and having outpaced Jarvis fired past Davies. Minutes later we once again fell asleep having conceded a free-kick, the quickly taken kick finding substitute Ashley Carew who beat Davies from an angle.

With 90 minutes already played, the Fish worked the ball around the edge of the Hayes area before Piper struck a volley that appeared to be sending Davies the wrong way only for the South African to grab the ball with those giant hands and keep the survival dream alive.



Report by Kevin Watts.

Photos by Ray Peploe.