Holbeach United 2
Northampton ON Chenecks 0
Jamie Stevens marked his return to the starting line-up with a goal as Holbeach United bounced back from a rare defeat to beat Northampton ON Chenecks 2-0 on Saturday.
Central defender Stevens, who was only making his third appearance of the season following his summer switch from Wisbech Town, buried a typical header to open the scoring on 38 minutes at Carter’s Park.
Midfielder Luke Avis then doubled the lead five minutes into the second period, netting following a flick-on from frontman Josh Ford.
The win elevated Seb Hayes’ side to fourth in the Future Lions UCL Premier Division table – but they are 15 points shy of table-topping Daventry Town.
Having seen their 12-game unbeaten run ended at Wellingborough Town the previous week, Hayes was just pleased to see his Tigers return to winning ways.
But he was also delighted to welcome Stevens back to the side, calling his return “the obvious plus point” from Saturday’s showdown.
“It was a good win for us,” admitted Hayes. “I’d have taken any kind of win to be honest, but to score twice and keep a clean sheet was ideal.
“To be fair to ON Chenecks, they made life difficult for us. They’re a decent side and created plenty of half-chances without really fashioning a clear one.
“They’re a hard team to beat, but once we got the goals we probably could have gone on to get a few more, to be honest.
“I felt like we started well and should really have been a few goals up inside the opening 20 minutes.
“We were low on numbers, which meant we had to rush Spencer Tinkler back into the side after just one training session.
“Joe Braithwaite, Danny Barker and Adam Jackson were all out too, so we were spread pretty thin.
“The obvious plus point was to get 90 minutes – and a goal – out of Jamie Stevens. Having him back is a massive boost for us all.
“With the amount of selection problems we have at the minute and given that we’d just lost to Wellingborough the previous week, just to win was the important thing to get us back on track.”
Tigers: Drury, Harker, T Smith, Stevens, Clay, Tinkler, Avis, Whyatt, Bird, Ford, Tricks. Subs used: J Smith, McConnell, B Smith.
Attendance: 78.
