Shepshed Dynamo 4 Holbeach United 1
Danny Hussey declared a “bad day at the office” as Holbeach United’s Uhlsport UCL Premier Division title hopes were hit by a 4-1 loss at rivals Shepshed Dynamo on Saturday.
In what was a lively opening at Butthole Lane, Reece Morris (9) fired Shepshed ahead, only for Tigers’ midfielder Danny Setchell to restore parity soon after the re-start with a stunner.
Matt Melbourne (34) put Dynamo back ahead before the break and, following a red card to Holbeach’s Jack Withers (58, two yellows), the hosts turned the screw with further strikes from Morris (61) and Melbourne (67).
The defeat sees the fifth-placed Tigers fall ten points behind leaders Quorn in the race for the title.
Hussey, who rang the changes for the top-of-the-table showdown following a 1-0 loss at Lutterworth Town the previous week, admitted that his formation change “probably didn’t work” but felt too many of his players “switched off” on the day.
“We knew that they’d been to watch us so decided on a change of formation,” admitted the Tigers chief. “Plus, we were poor in the last game and a few of the lads didn’t deserve a start.
“Mixing it up felt like the right thing to do and some of the lads who had been sat on the bench had shown the right attitude and deserved their chance.
“We went 3-5-2, but it probably didn’t work if I’m honest. Shepshed away is a big game and we gave them three of their four goals, sadly. The idea was to double up on their wingers, who we’d identified as their key players. But we switched off a few times and it cost us.
“Fair play to Danny Setchell, he scored a great goal to get us level. We just weren’t solid enough on the day. The disappointing thing for me is that they didn’t really outplay us, we gave them their goals.
“Neither side was really better than the other, it was just a bad day at the office for us. We weren’t switched on and got involved in a few niggles.
“I had to bring Adam Jackson off at half-time because I was worried he’d get sent off.
“I was also about to bring Jack Withers off before his second yellow card – but that’s just one of those things.
“Jack hasn’t played for a while and this can happen in football. Both were justified yellow cards and I have no complaints. The fourth goal just came when we were chasing the game.
“Obviously the red card didn’t help and this was a big game for us.
“I’d set the lads a points target for March and we’re six points off that, so we’ve got some catching up to do.”
There was one positive for Holbeach, with new signing Andrew Tidswell making his latest debut for the club as a 63rd-minute substitute at the Dovecote Stadium.
Tigers: Drury, Wilson, T Smith, N Jackson, A Jackson (Adams 46), Setchell, Tinkler (Tidswell 63), Frew, Ford (Lockie 63), Withers. Not used: Bird.
Attendance: 189.
