Holbeach United 0
Yaxley 1
A late Scott Carter strike dented Holbeach United’s ChromaSport UCL Premier Division title hopes as Yaxley picked up a battling 1-0 win at Carter’s Park on Monday.
Carter buried the only goal of the game 15 minutes from time when he collected Jack Saunders’ cross from the left and rifled home a low drive from close range.
Neither side really did enough to deserve the points in what was a largely drab post-Christmas clash, but the loss sees Holbeach drop to fifth in the table, some ten points behind leaders Leicester Nirvana with two games in hand.
The narrow reverse represents a first loss for new boss Tom Roberts and is also the first time the Tigers have tasted defeat in five weeks.
Roberts felt the scoreline was harsh on his side, but did admit that game was “very flat”.
“It’s a hard one to take,” said the Tigers chief. “We didn’t do enough to win the game, but I certainly didn’t feel we deserved to lose it.
“It was a bit of a midfield battle if I’m honest. It was all about small margins – and obviously we failed to deal with a basic ball forward for their goal.
“Small margins usually decide games that are as close as this one was.
“It was a flat game all-round really. They didn’t come here looking to win and played 4-5-1, which sums it up really.
“If you look at the way they celebrated after the game you can tell that it means a lot for them to win at Holbeach – which shows how far we’ve come over the past few months.
“But overall we just didn’t do enough on the day to get the win. We can’t dwell on it, it’s just one of those things – I’m not too downbeat.”
On a very heavy-looking Carter’s Park surface, it was never likely to be a Christmas cracker between two sides that were tipped for the top six at the start of the season.
Holbeach perhaps started the better – and almost went ahead when Tom Gosling beat young Cuckoos’ keeper Declan Bonser to a 50/50 ball and slid an effort towards goal. It looked to be rolling in, but Yaxley recovered.
Nick Jackson then nodded an Andrew Tidswell corner over at the near post as the hosts searched for an early opener.
Debutant Aaron Eyett, who was lively in attack, also went close when his fine run ended with a shot that was deflected wide of the near post.
That was as good as it got in the first period, though, as the game descended into a midfield battle.
Yaxley did have one decent effort before half time, but Ricky Drury produced a flying low save to turn Liam Hook’s long-range drive around the post.
If the first half was low on incident, the second period was even more drab. Both sides remained pretty evenly-matched, but neither looked likely to grab all three points.
That was, until Yaxley grabbed a goal out of nothing. A hopeful ball forward on the left looked set to be shielded behind for a goal kick by Ollie Pinner.
But Saunders managed to rob him and pull back an inviting cross for Carter, who made no mistake from eight yards out.
In truth, Holbeach never really looked like rescuing a point. Eyett did fire one effort over in the closing stages, but Yaxley held on to hand the Tigers only their third league loss of the campaign.
They’ll need to bounce back ahead of Saturday’s home date with runaway leaders Leicester Nirvana (3pm).
Tigers: Drury, Worthington, Ward, Jackson, Cartwright, Dougill (Pinner 64), Gale, Tidswell, Thomas, Eyett, Gosling. Not used: Newcombe, Rose, Clitheroe, Roberts.
RESULTS (December 28)
ChromaSport UCL
Premier Division: AFC Kempston Rovers 1 Wellingborough Town 0; Boston Town 0 Deeping Rangers 2; Desborough Town 2 Northampton Sileby Rangers 1; Harrowby United 3 Sleaford Town 1; Holbeach United 0 Yaxley 1; Huntingdon Town 1 Wisbech Town 6; Kirby Muxloe 2 Harborough Town 1; Northampton Spencer 1 Rothwell Corinthians 3; Peterborough Northern Star 2 Eynesbury Rovers 3; Cogenhoe United 1 Newport Pagnell Town 4; Oadby Town 1 Leicester Nirvana 5.
