Holbeach United 1
South Normanton Athletic 0
Spencer Tinkler’s first-half strike fired Holbeach United into the second round of the Builbase FA Vase after a battling win over South Normanton Athletic on Saturday.
Midfielder Tinkler fired home a penalty rebound on 30 minutes after Stacy Cartwright had seen his initial effort saved by Darren Keeling at Carter’s Park.
The awarding of the spot-kick – won by George Zeurner – was the flashpoint of a close clash, with Tigers boss Seb Hayes admitting that he’d have been “frustrated” if the boot had been on the other foot.
Hayes was also pleased to see his side put in a strong defensive performance, but felt the hosts struggled going forward in what he called a “sloppy” showing.
“That’s two clean sheets on the trot – I’ll take that,” said the Holbeach chief. “But you could see that we’re having problems going forward at the moment, which has been going on since the Boston Town game.
“I think we looked a bit sloppy and aren’t really doing enough in the final third. I’m not worried about it, but it’s not really ideal at the minute.
“We’ve got a few niggly injuries, so maybe that has something to do with it. But we’re certainly not free-flowing at the moment.
“Obviously I’m happy to win, if you’d have said 1-0 beforehand I’d have taken it. But, when you’re at home, you want to play well and entertain.
“I don’t think we really created anything of note, winning thanks to a penalty says everything about us if I’m honest.
“It’s good to win when you’ve been poor, but we’ve got to be better than that moving forward.
“I thought the penalty was the right call. George got in front of his man, so the guy had no choice but to put his arm around him and pull him down.
“But I can agree that, if we’d been on the other end of it, I’d have been frustrated by it.
“All we want from the next round is a home draw. But inbetween now and then we need to play a lot better.
“We’re back to being solid defensively, I thought we were resolute against a big, strong side.
“It’s a little concerning that we’ve gone from scoring goals to fun to stuggling to create chances, but we’ll work on that. We’re not even creating enough chances to miss them – hopefully things improve.
“I can’t fault the lads overall. We were fitter and sharper than them and had people putting their bodies on the line.
“I thought we were horrible, too. I like that – last season we had a soft underbelly, no teams are saying we’re nasty and horrible.
“We want to win games by playing football. But if we have to be nasty and win that way, we will.”
After a largely even start at a windswept Carter’s Park, it was the Tigers who fashioned the first chance when Zuerner beat his man and lashed wide.
Ollie Medwynter then failed to make a decent connection with Matt Warfield’s whipped cross as the hosts started to take control.
Zuerner went even closer when he powered a header over from Nick Jackson’s delivery from the left, before the Tigers were gifted an opener.
Dave Leigh clumsily hauled down Zuerner in the box for a penalty. Cartwright low effort was kept out by Keeling – only for Tinker to angle home the rebound with his right foot.
South Normanton, who were always in the game, forced a super save from Ricky Drury late in the half after Kevin Hamagou’s well-placed effort.
After the break it was the hosts who looked the more likely to add to their tally. Joe Braithwaite was inches away from meeting a dangerous Mitch Griffiths corner, while Dan Dougill’s dangerous lob was tipped onto the bar and over.
At the other end, Jack Tyson almost turned home a dragged shot from the imposing Luke Crosby and Drury had to tip a Mark Strzydueski header over at his near post.
Holbeach did keep searching for the clincher as Griffiths lashed a long-ranger just wide and sub Joe Smith saw a deflected drive come back off the inside of the post.
That made for a nervy final ten minutes, as the visitors applied plenty of pressure on the home defence. But, led by a commanding display from skipper Jackson, the Tigers held firm to book their place in the next round.
Tigers: Drury, Medwynter, Jackson, Braithwaite, Cartwright (Smith 61), Warfield, Dougill, Tinkler, Griffiths (Davies 90), Zuerner (Avis 80), Bird.
Attendance: 101.
