Holwell Sports sunk by Graham St Prims long ball tactic
East Midlands Counties League
GRAHAM ST PRIMS 3 HOLWELL SPORTS 1
HOLWELL put on a real Halloween show on Saturday with some ghoulish defending and ghastly finishing in this away defeat.
Maybe the recent stop-start fixture programme made the squad rusty and short of match fitness as Holwell produced one of their worst performances of the campaign.
Both teams started slowly on a blustery day with Holwell slightly the better of the two sides. After five minutes, Michael Stevenson’s shot forced a save as Prims seemed happy to play with a lone striker and try to catch Holwell on the break.
And in the 11th minute they did. Scott Mooney had worked hard to get into a promising position in the home six-yard box, but couldn’t work the ball to a Holwell player. From the clearance, Prims opened Holwell up and Jim Slack was put through one-on-one to round keeper Richard Cragg and stroke the ball into an empty net.
Manager Simon Daws was without Stuart Rose through suspension and put Chris Hibbitt, Kieran Foster and Graham Keast on the bench as Levi Fray was given a start on the right of midfield in preference of Ben Smedley.
After the early setback Holwell did well to get on top again, and on 20 minutes were level when good work in midfield saw Stevenson put Mooney in to beat the advancing keeper Hankey.
Holwell remained the better side, but were again undone by poor defending on 35 minutes when Slack was set away again by the long ball into the left channel and lifted a shot over Cragg and into the far corner.
The first goal after half-time was going to be crucial and as hard as they tried, Holwell struggled to get going and chased the match. Sam Collins, left up front alone for Prims, was causing problems again via the long ball out of defence.
Growing increasingly frustrated, Holwell picked up more poor bookings and now face the loss through suspension of Ian Bitmead and Aaron Ridout for the next couple of weeks to the totting-up process. Mooney is now also one away from a second suspension.
After one such booking, Prims threw in a free kick, and with Holwell struggling to defend it, Marc Atwal put a shot into the top corner after 65 minutes.
Holwell sent on Foster and Hibbitt to try and retrieve something but couldn’t influence the result. Cragg made another great save, tipping a shot on to the post and away, and three minutes from time, Stevenson had a header on target, but Hankey saved.
Holwell: R. Cragg, I. Bitmead, D. Hallows, A. Ridout, T. Morgan, I. Wells (C. Hibbitt), L. Fray (K. Foster), M. Stevenson, J. Kirkby, S. Mooney, L. Chapman. Subs (unused): G. Keast, B. Smedley.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Melton
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North
