Extra Time Fight Back to continue FA Vase dream!

Boss Simon Daws was handed a double boost before kick-off when Kieran Foster and Chris Hibbitt both passed late fitness tests after picking up injuries in midweek against Sutton.

Clear chances were scarce for either side in a cagey, frenetic first half as Holwell and their Midland Alliance opponents weighed each other up.

Scott Mooney forced the first save on the quarter-hour, while Mark Tinsley’s first-time header from keeper Richard Froggatt’s miscued clearance was also kept out.

At the other end, a goalmouth scramble was nervously cleared and Richard Cragg got down well to turn Simeon Lawrence’s low shot around the post.

Two minutes before half-time, Foster cut in off the right wing, but his shot lacked power, and from Froggatt’s clearance, Rocester almost went in front as sub Matthew King shot narrowly wide.

Foster again tested the keeper on the stroke of half-time with a decent first-time shot from Stevenson’s excellent cross-field pass.
Holwell had a scare a minute after the restart as Cragg saved again, but it was the hosts who bossed the half.

Mooney forced another save, while Foster showed good skills before putting an overhead kick just over the bar. Mooney was again sent through but the Rocester defence recovered to make a last-ditch tackle, and Chapman’s chip was just over as Holwell piled forward.

Holwell came closest 10 minutes from time when Jamie McKay’s first-time cross to the back post found Foster whose header back across goal hit the far post and was somehow cleared.

Any thoughts this was going to be one of those days was compounded in the second minute of extra time when Rocester went ahead against the run of play. Holwell’s defence was, for once, caught cold as a smart chip into the box found Ben Minshull in space to slide a finish past Cragg.

Rocester were rejuvenated and three minutes later Cragg kept Holwell in the tie, palming away a close range header for a corner.

Daws tried his last throw of the dice in the 12th minute,
replacing Tinsley with Bettinson despite the striker’s continuing struggles with injury. But his impact was immediate, equalising with his first touch when he found space in the box despite Froggatt getting a hand to his shot.

And two minutes into the second period, Holwell turned the game on its head. Perseverance from Mooney paid off as the Rocester full-back conceded a needless free kick near the byline, just to the left of the box.

Stevenson shaped to cross to the cavalry charge at the far post, but wrong-footed the Rocester defence with a low shot which sneaked across the line just as Hibbitt slid in to make doubly sure.

Stevenson put Mooney through one-on-one but the striker blazed a tired shot over as Holwell sat back and hit Rocester on the break.

The final whistle blew after five long minutes of added time, sparking a noisy ovation which roared Holwell’s players and management back to the changing rooms.