Holbeach United 3
Kempston Rovers 3
Holbeach United blew a 3-0 half time-lead against unbeaten ChromaSport UCL Premier Division leaders Kempston Rovers on Saturday in a remarkable Carter’s Park clash.
Dubbed Holbeach’s “cup final” by boss Tom Roberts ahead of the crunch clash, the hosts made an amazing start at Carter’s Park as they raced into a three-goal lead inside 15 minutes.
Sean Coughlan burst clear to slot the Tigers ahead on two minutes, before sending in a cross for Jordan Thomas to finish off eight minutes later.
Defender Stacy Cartwright then volleyed home number three on the quarter hour, before being forced off with a nasty head injury.
The game flipped after the break, however, with Jamaine Ivy kicking off the Kempston comeback through a close-range header seven minutes in.
Controversy followed, with two Dom Marsala penalties (55 and 71) levelling the scores after fouls from Dan Worthington and Matt Warfield. The second, in particular, was a hugely contentious decision which left the home bench fuming.
Rovers had the better of the late chances, with Ricky Drury forced to make two smart saves, but in the end the draw was the right result.
Tigers boss Roberts felt the game was ruined by the referee, but wasn’t too downbeat with a point – considering he had a very depleted side on the field.
“It’s frustrating,” said the player/manager. “Maybe we’d have taken a draw before the game against a very good side.
“We mentioned how resilient they were before the game and they’ve shown that, to be fair.
“Sadly, the game was influenced by the man in the middle. I don’t like to blame referees, but if he goes away and analyses his performance like we ask our players to do, he can’t be happy with himself.
“The second penalty and the elbow after 20 minutes are the main ones. Stacy had to go to hospital for stitches and the referee claims not to have seen it. Their number ten also threw another one at Matty Warfield later on.
“We should have done better with the first penalty. We should have cleared the first ball and then after that it was clumsy.
“As for the second one, we should have had a corner beforehand and then there was a foul on Warfield in the build-up. I also thought the foul was outside of the box.
“I think we’ve possibly missed a chance to beat them and close the gap. But it was a fantastic performance compared to what we’ve done in recent weeks.
“Overall it was two good sides that were at each other from the off. It was a positive game that both teams wanted to win – which doesn’t happen very often.
“We pushed the leaders with a very depleted side, which is a positive we should take and proves the strength-in-depth we have here.”
Starting with striker Josh Ford playing in midfield, Holbeach looked to attack the unbeaten table-toppers from the off.
That’s exactly what they did, with full debutant Coughlan showing incredible pace to get in behind the visiting defence and slot a low left-footed finish past Martin Conway.
The explosive pace of striker Coughlan played a big part in the Tigers’ second soon after, as he skinned his man on the right and delivered for Thomas. Although the Holbeach hitman’s initial effort was blocked, he dispatched the rebound into the net for 2-0.
Danger-man Coughlan almost made it three when he rounded Conway and saw his strike blocked, but Cartwright made no mistake on 15 minutes with a volleyed finish from Andrew Tidswell’s corner that flew into the net via the inside of the near post.
Sadly that was to be Cartwright’s last act after a stray elbow from Shane Bush left him needing stitches in his head. The incident went unpunished – and left striker Ford having to play right back.
Kempston did have two chances to pull one back before the break, but Alex Stoyles sent a free header over the bar and Drury pulled off a super save following a bit of pinball in the home area.
The second half was a totally different story, with Rovers very much the dominant side.
They got the early goal they needed on 52 minutes when Ivy nodded home from close range following a corner.
You sensed that Holbeach had to keep it tight for a few minutes after that, but they were powerless to resist the advances of relentless Rovers.
Three minutes later it was very much game on when a clumsy challenge from Dan Worthington on Ivy allowed Marsala to step up and bury the first penalty of the afternoon.
With the Tigers shell-shocked, they were lucky not to see Coughlan sent off. On a yellow card, he got away with both kicking the ball away and then taking out keeper Conway with a lunging tackle.
Then came the key moment of the match, with Warfield penalised for a fairly innocuous challenge on the edge of the box. It was given as a penalty – and Marsala showed great nerve to smash home again to make it 3-3 with 19 minutes to play.
With more and more needle and ill-feeling coming into the game, Dan Dougill was lucky to get away with a two-footed lunge and Warfield was levelled by another nasty Bush elbow.
Both sides pushed for a winner, but it was Kempston who looked the more likely, with Drury forced to make a point-blank stop from Bush and a super low stop from a clean through Josh Winters.
The draw sees Kempston fall behind Leicester Nirvana in the table, with Holbeach 13 points behind the new leaders in fifth ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Rothwell Corinthians.
Tigers: Drury, Worthington, Ward, Warfield, Cartwright (Acer 24), Dougill, Tidswell, J Ford, Clitheroe, Coughlan, Thomas. Not used: Roberts, L Ford, Russon, Newcombe.
Attendance: 140
Results
ChromaSport UCL
Premier Division: Cogenhoe United 0 Eynesbury Rovers 0; Deeping Rangers 0 Kirby Muxloe 1; Desborough Town 1 Wisbech Town 1; Harborough Town 2 Harrowby United 0; Holbeach United 3 AFC Kempston Rovers 3; Huntingdon Town 1 Leicester Nirvana 8; Newport Pagnell Town 2 Yaxley 1; Northampton Spencer 1 Wellingborough Town 2; Oadby Town 2 Peterborough Northern Star 2; Sleaford Town 1 Rothwell Corinthians 0.
KO Cup: Northampton SR 3 Boston Town 5 (AET).
