Impressive Holwell run ends with a whimper not a bang

The visitors arrived at Welby Road on Saturday on a wretched run of six straight defeats, while Holwell were unbeaten in 2020 and had not suffered a home defeat since the end of September.

An out-of-sorts Holwell led 2-1 at half-time, yet United completed a second half comeback to win 3-2.

“It was a bad day at the office, it happens,” said Miller.

“The most important thing now is how we react. It’s all very easy when you’re winning games, but when you hit the bump in the road, who’s going to stand up and be counted?”

He added: “I could waffle on about how poor we were yesterday, but I think that would be unfair.

“It would be disrespectful to Birstall who fully deserved the win for the team spirit and effort they put into the game.

“We didn’t look our usual selves and we could feel that from the warm-up, and that followed into the game.

“Only one team looked like a ‘team’ and that was the lads in red.”

Holwell supporters have become accustomed to seeing their side rack up a hatful of goals at Welby Road in recent months, and it looked business as usual when they hit the front after just six minutes.

Birstall lost possession in a promising area and from a swift counter-attack, the ball was played across the six-yard box for leading scorer Aidan Black to tap in his 13th goal of the season.

But the visitors were the team on the front foot, with Tom Vyce causing problems for the Holwell back four, and they levelled just 11 minutes later when Luke Day climbed high to head in a corner.

Holwell twice sprung the offside trap to go through one-on-one, but both times Birstall keeper Elliot Shilliam did well to snuff out the danger.

The visitors held the upper hand and the dangerous Dion Potter cut in and shot narrowly over two minutes before the break.

Yet it was Holwell who grabbed a half-time lead when Stan Logan netted from close range, in similar fashion to the first goal.

“We somehow found ourselves 2-1 ahead at half-time, but the only football played was by the visitors,” said Miller.

“My Tweet most probably summed up how I felt about it - awful.

“Our half-time chat was constructive, but it didn’t feel like any of it sunk in.”

The pattern of play continued into the second half, with Birstall much brighter without creating clear-cut chances.

Holwell forced a series of corners which the visitors just about dealt with, but then out of nothing, Birstall were level.

Dion Potter turned inside the box and his shot looked tame, but keeper Ben Challis allowed it to squirm under him with 18 minutes left.

The situation deteriorated two minutes later when protests over a failed penalty appeal led to a sin-binning, and the visitors took full advantage of their extra man by netting the winner with 10 minutes left.

Vyce won possession high up the pitch and burst through one-on-one before lifting the ball over Challis to make it 3-2.

“They absolutely got their just rewards, and we can’t complain,” Miller added.

“Yes, we still created chances, but on reflection, we didn’t deserve to take anything from the game.

“You only get out what you put in, and the scoreline reflected that.”

Holwell: B. Challis, D. Hazeldine, I. Bitmead, R. Dunlop, K. Reek, L. Peberdy, G. Coser, Aaron Black, S. Logan, Aidan Black, H. Allcock. Subs: J. Currall, S. Lambie, M. Matangi.