WHITWORTH 0
HOLBEACH UTD 6
A second-half hat-trick from Will Bird helped Holbeach United wallop Wellingborough Whitworth 6-0 in the ChromaSport UCL Premier Division on Saturday.
An early Lewis Leckie goal gave the Tigers the lead at London Road, before George Zuerner grabbed a second to make it 2-0 at half-time.
Charley Sanders, used as a central defender on what was his first start in over two months, buried goal number three before the Bird show began.
The striker, who hadn’t scored since netting twice in a 2-0 win against Eynesbury Rovers on November 8, rounded off the rout with a top treble to make it 14 goals for the season.
Having seen his side climb up to second in the table, pleased boss Seb Hayes praised the performance and suggested the Tigers could have scored even more.
Hayes said: “It was a very good performance for 70 of the 90 minutes.
“What was really encouraging was that the lads knew the 20 minutes before half-time wasn’t good enough and went out and finished the game off pretty early in the second half.
“I keep saying it, but we’re in a really important part of the season – teams are now doing the groundwork to have the chance to win things come the end of the campaign.
“We were aware that Leicester Nirvana were losing at Sleaford and we knew we couldn’t afford to slip up.
“Was 6-0 a fair scoreline? I’d have to say yes. To be fair to Whitworth, they came out to play.
“They were a bit too open in my opinion and defended with a bit of a high line.
“Saying that, I thought we looked superb going forward and we broke will real pace.
“No disrespect to Whitworth, as it’s a club that I have a lot of respect for, but we could have scored eight in the second half alone.
“Once again, we scored in spells – which is something we’ve done very well lately.
“Overall, we were very clinical and that was very pleasing.”
Hayes was also delighted to see striker Bird end his lengthy goal drought.
The ex-Deeping Rangers hitman has played in 29 of Holbeach’s 33 games this season, but the Holbeach boss is adamant that he never considered dropping him despite the lack of goals.
And Hayes was also buoyed by the way Bird’s team-mates celebrated his first goal, insisting that it highlights the amazing spirit the team has built up over the season.
“I was very pleased for Birdy,” added Hayes. “He’d been on a bit of a drought – and the lads were giving him plenty of stick.
“But, regardless of if he’s scoring or not, Will always works very hard for us.
“He defends from the front and sets the tone for how we like to play.
“I think it was very telling that all of the lads reacted to his first goal – everybody was very pleased for him.
“It shows how tight the group is and he went on to score a very quick hat-trick afterwards.
“He certainly needed that.”
Holbeach visit Bourne Town on Wednesday night for their Lincs FA Senior Trophy semi-final.
Joe Smith is suspended for the game at the Abbey Lawn, with Hayes expected Bourne to be “bang up” for the derby duel.
Tigers: Drury, Tinkler, Sanders, Jackson, Avis, Smith (Warfield), Zuerner, Dougill (East), Griffiths, Leckie, Bird (Fenton). Not used: Cartwright.
