Holbeach United 2
Cogenhoe United 2
A late penalty denied Holbeach United a fifth ChromaSport UCL Premier Division win on the bounce on Saturday as Cogenhoe United held them to a 2-2 draw at Carter’s Park.
The Tigers trailed 1-0 at the break following a classy Matt Long finish (43), but two quick-fire deflected strikes from Matt Warfield (75) and Charley Sanders (76) turned the game on its head.
However, Luke Stone buried an 86th-minute spot-kick – conceded by keeper Ricky Dury – to stop Holbeach’s winning spree.
However, boss Seb Hayes was pleased to see his charges battle back to pick up a positive result – and remains hopeful that they’ll see out the remainder of the season unbeaten.
“When you go 2-1 up with not long to play, you’re always going to be gutted not to win the game,” admitted the Tigers chief. “But, overall, that’s the first time we’ve come from behind to get something out of a game.
“Sadly, we’re just picking up so many injuries at the moment – the amount we’re carrying is incredible. We’re asking boys to do men’s jobs because of that, but young Callum Davies came on and did incredibly well.
“The first half wasn’t great. It was a typical end of season half and I don’t want to go over the top on my thoughts about it. But we weren’t good enough.
“We looked flat and were a totally different team to the one we’ve been in the past few weeks.
“We were so bad, but the only pleasing thing was that we were only 1-0 down.
“I knew that, if we went out and played 20 per cent better, we’d get something.
“To get two goals in the second half and a point is OK, we’ll take it. We’ve got a target of remaining unbeaten for the rest of the season and that has continued, extending our run to five unbeaten.
“The goals weren’t pretty, but they were reward for the lads sticking to the gameplan and not giving up on the result, which we have done in the past.
“We haven’t lost at home in 2017 – and that’s something I’d like to see continue. We can take that as a big positive into next season, too.
“We’re making ourselves hard to beat and scoring goals. I’m proud of the second half response, we stuck to our task and got a result.
“We’ve got lads playing through injuries and lads getting vital experience as they play, so we have to be happy with how we’ve stuck together as a team.”
The first 15 minutes were pretty low key at Carter’s Park, with the best moment for Holbeach being a cross from Mitch Griffiths which just eluded George Zuerner.
Cogenhoe had the game’s first big chance when Munyaradzi Matiyenga headed over from close in, but the Tigers immediately returned fire when Sanders saw his close-range header held by Stuart Lutter.
Griffiths, industrious as ever on the flank, then forced another save from Lutter when he fashioned a half-chance for himself on his left foot.
But Cogenhoe came on strong in the closing stages of the half and went close again when Ryan Ansell’s long-ranger was helped over by Drury.
The Holbeach stopper made an even better save to keep out a clean-through Ryan Dove following a neat exchange with Long, but could do nothing about the opener two minutes before the break.
Long, who was a constant thorn in the side of the home defence, controlled a cross superbly before smashing home a lethal finish high into the near top corner.
With the ever-impressive Dan Dougill making things tick in central midfield, Holbeach improved after the break. Griffiths lashed a strike off target in the early exchanges, while Zuerner was inches away from connecting with a Spencer Tinkler cross.
The leveller finally came 15 minutes from time – and had an element of fortune about it. Teenage sub Callum Davies, who made a big impact, raced down the right and delivered a dangerous cross which was headed out into the path of Warfield, who lashed a volley into the corner of the net via a deflection from Josh Melling.
Seconds later the turnaround was complete as Holbeach benefitted from another deflection. This time it was Sanders who saw his effort come off Cogenhoe’s Jake Cayton and into the net.
The impressive Davies almost made it 3-1 when he raced through and clipped an effort over the bar, but the visitors were far from beaten.
Indeed, Stone levelled from the penalty spot four minutes from time after Drury brought down a clean through Long, lashing the spot-kick into the corner of the net.
It almost got worse for the Tigers as sub Ashley Clamp blazed over when well-placed in the box, but overall a draw felt like the right result on the day.
Tigers: Drury, Tinkler, Cartwright, N Jackson, Madigan, Warfield, Dougill, Zuerner (Munton 62), Griffiths (Davies 70), Treacher, Sanders. Not used: Nicholson, Harker.
Attendance: 90.
