New Holwell Sports bosses so close to a first victory
Holwell Sports' new management duo came so close to their first win in the Midland League Division One on Saturday when a late leveller held them to a 2-2 home draw with GNG Oadby.
But joint boss Ian Bitmead felt it was another step forward and was delighted to be able to draft more local talent into the mix.
Jamie Hoyland fired Oadby ahead after only nine minutes, but Hayden Simpson levelled matters and Jake O'Reilly put Holwell noses in front just after the hour only to see Karum Shankar grab an equaliser 11 minutes from time.
“I think they saw we were bottom of the table and thought they would come and roll us over. But we gave them a surprise,” said Bitmead.
“We said we would give teams a surprise after last week's games and that is what we did.
“The lads worked really hard throughout the 90 minutes, which is a real positive. There was a lot of good stuff to take away from the game.
“We brought 19-year-old left back Theo Peters into the side, who came through the youth team. Kai Biggs-Finney was promoted from the reserves and we made Brook Isherwood club captain, who we also promoted from the reserves.
“All three are local lads and this is the way we want to go now and going forward – it's not a short term plan.
“We see this is as a massive positive and we have irons in the fire about trying to get a few more of them in as well.
“Being local it all means a lot more to them and it means a lot more to me and Will (joint boss Andrew) as well, seeing them all pushing through.
“We had Tyler Ward in the squad the other night away at Coalville – and the reaction to see a 17-year-old play in front of 250 people under the lights was great plus the nice messages you get from them afterwards about the experience.
“It is only going to benefit the club and it is a long term plan we need to be rolling out now and what we will keep pushing for.”
On the Oadby draw, he said: “We started well but then they scored early on. Usually that would set us back a little bit. But the reaction was good. The lads are different now and know they are in for a battle.
“We got back into the game, actually took the lead and controlled the game for long spells.
“If is wasn't for their keeper making an outstanding save we'd have gone 3-1 up and I think the game would have been done. Instead they went down the other end and rounded the keeper and scored.
“I won't lie, that was a bit deflating as we wanted the three points, but there was a lot of good, positive stuff coming from that game.”
On Saturday, Sports host high-flying Northfield Town before a Tuesday trip to Stapenhill and Bitmead added: “It will be another tough test on Saturday against second in the league Northfield, but we will set up and go for it, and every week we will keep trying to build on it.”