Leicester Nirvana 1
Holbeach United 1
A late goal denied Holbeach United all three points at ChromaSport UCL Premier Division leaders Leicester Nirvana on Saturday as they were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw.
George Zuerner’s excellent 47th-minute header from a Mitch Griffiths cross gave the in-form Tigers a deserved lead at Hamilton Park.
Joe Smith and Lewis Leckie then hit the bar in quick succession as Holbeach threatened to run riot, but they were pegged back by a Shaquille Master effort three minutes from time.
An injury-time red card for Nirvana’s Jahdatin Harper followed, but Hayes’ side – who were without Nick Jackson, Stacy Cartwright, Luke Avis, Jordan Keeble and Charley Sanders – couldn’t snatch a winner.
And, with Griffiths also picking up an injury, the Holbeach boss is worried that his growing injury list is getting unsustainable.
Hayes also admitted that he and the players felt they should have won the game – but accepted that a point away at the table-toppers isn’t to be sniffed at as they slipped to ninth in the table.
“It’s a good point, of course,” said the Tigers chief. “If you’d offered me a draw before the match, I’d have snapped your hand off.
“But, on reflection, we went 1-0 up and hit the bar twice before conceding a late equaliser.
“If it had gone 2-0 or 3-0, they wouldn’t have got back into the game.
“I think we brought it on ourselves, though. We dropped deeper and deeper late in the game and failed to manage the game.
“It’d hard to weigh up. We had so many players missing and got a draw with the league leaders, so we have to be pleased on some level.
“But we also lost Mitch to injury in the game. The list of players we have out just keeps going – and it’s threatening to ruin our season.
“It’s a big moment in the season for us and I’m concerned that we’ll lose points in the league or suffer cup defeats because of these injury problems.
“We only had young Cal Davies and Dan Jenkins – back from a long-term injury – on the bench. But I had to ask them to do jobs for the team.
“Regardless of our problems, it’s my job to keep pushing the lads to give us more.
“It’s only one defeat in 14 games for us and to almost beat the league leaders – who are top for a reason – with such a weakened side is a positive.
“We just don’t want to be a side that settles for results. We should have won the game both the players and the management team left the ground feeling like we should have won.
“That’s the kind of attitude I want to see.”
Holbeach host Eynesbury Rovers next on Wednesday night (7.45pm).
Tigers: Drury, Harker, Warfield, Braithwaite, Tinkler, Joe Smith (Jenkins), Dougill, Zuerner, Griffiths (Davies), Bird, Leckie. Not used: Edey.
Attendance: 38
