Two Wins in a row confidence grows!

The visitors started lively enough and had the ball in the net within a minute but Jay Kirkby was adjudged offside. Holwell were again quicker to the ball than their opponents and were soon into their stride coping with anything the Prims had to offer. It didn’t take too long to break the deadlock and a fine through pass to Ian Bitmead saw him coolly slide the ball under the home keeper Toher.

Prims tried to hit back with some strong play down the right but Stan Wallis was on form and was able to stifle this tactic but on 20mins midfielder Williams managed to get a cross in which evaded everyone as it passed through the six yard box.

Holwell were well worth their lead but some off target finishing and an offside trap meant any improvement in the score hard to come by. The closest Holwell got to extending their lead came through Chris Hibbitt who rose well to head the ball at a corner on 36mins but Toher brought off a good saving dive at his left post.

Tom Cooper-Richards tried to get Prims going up front , but Holwell’s Captain Anthony Snelgrove was marshalling the back four well, who all looked comfortable and the home side were finding no way through the centre backs with Stuart Rose growing in confidence since breaking back into the first team in January.

Howell started the second half off as they finished the first, bossing in midfield with Michael Stevenson, Fred Stannard and Chris Hibbitt ,well in control. Ben Smedley who had a quiet first half was seeing more of the ball and attacks down the left flank were beginning to open up the home defence with Kirkby and Bitmead having chances to increase the lead.

The elusive second goal which would finish off Prims just didn’t seem to be coming, no matter that Holwell were by far the better of the two teams and a win seemed assured.

With frustration beginning to creep into the home sides play Referee Pursglove handled the game very well refusing to brandish cards when others would have resorted to that in an effort to calm down players and regain control of play.

The home side pushed on Rob Fretwell to see if he could change the pattern of the game but still Holwell looked like the only team that would score. The home side were still trying to break through but by now had succumbed to pushing up chasing the game leaving spaces at the back for Holwell to exploit.

Stan Wallis gave way to Dominic Hallows for the last ten minutes further shoring up the strong back four. However just as it looked as though the game was petering out as a 1-0 away win, the home side had pushed up again for a corner and quick thinking by Richard Cragg in the visitors goal saw him take the ball well and quickly throw the ball out to Ben Smedley who went on to score the goal of the match. Taking the ball from the throw out on 87mins he skipped past a defender out wide on the left and as the home side tried to get back and cover he cut in beating two more defenders along the eighteen yard line before unleashing a shot high into the keeper’s left of the goal.

This totally deflated the home side and their woes were compounded further as Holwell won the ball back from the kick off and Jay Kirkby was played in to slot the ball home for the winner on 88mins adding gloss to a fine display.

A great finish to an assured confident performance by all on the day with the team scoring ten goals without loss in two games. News of Holwell’s Reserves winning 9-0 at home to Sileby, meant that St Patrick’s day 2012 was a good day for Holwell Sports FC !