Holbeach United boss Seb Hayes admitted that his side had extra motivation to beat Pinchbeck United on Friday night – because they showed no class in the build-up to the derby.
The Knights made a seven-day notice of approach for Holbeach hitman Charley Sanders ahead of the clash and Hayes claims they “took the mickey” by talking to him about a possible transfer on the day of the match.
The Tigers chief reckons the approach fired his team up and was delighted to see them romp to a 5-1 victory at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field (report here).
And Hayes, who saw his side lose 2-1 at Grantham Town in the FA Cup last weekend and 4-3 at Deeping Rangers in the UCL Premier Division on Tuesday, is now hoping his side will go far in the FA Vase this season.
The Holbeach boss said: “We’ve had a hard week – and it showed in the first half.
“We’ve got a lot of players out and carrying injuries, so we just set up rigidly. That’s why we played Charley Sanders at the back.
“Although they had three chances, apart from that they didn’t hurt us. I thought we put a lot of decent balls into the box and I thought that, after the first 15 minutes or so, we were clearly the better team.
“We changed things in the second half and knew that we had to play with width. After the hard games at Deeping and Grantham, we didn’t want to leave ourselves too open, too early.
“It was one-way traffic in the second half, they couldn’t live with us.
“I’m very happy with how we dealt with them, as they tried to get under our skin. I though they took the mickey really, making an approach for Charley and then speaking to him at 12 o’clock on the day of the game didn’t sit well with us.
“They didn’t show any class really – and you can print that. What they tried to do is get under our skin, but it only served to motivate us even more.
“With that in mind, I’m very happy to win so convincingly.
“I don’t think we played brilliantly, but we did what we have to do – come away from home amid a tricky run and win 5-1.
“I was very pleased with how ruthless we were in the second half. We were a little frustrated with the first half show, but I didn’t need to say anything – the players knew and said it themselves.
“We just didn’t deal with Corey Kingston’s pace, but we nullified that in the second half.
“They instantly dropped off when Charley went up top. Once we got space, we really hurt them.
“I think the Deeping defeat knocked the lads for six and that’s why we started quite slowly. Yes, we rode our luck in the first half, but got the job done in the end.
“I’m very pleased with five goals. This is a competition we want to go far in.
“We had a nice run in the FA Cup and had something of a mini-final at Grantham, but we’d like another run.”
Next up for Holbeach is a trip to Boston Town in the Lincs Cup on Tuesday (7.45pm).
