Tigers ready for the hunt

Holbeach United begin their second season in the Thurlow Nunn Division One on Saturday with a home game against Cornard United.
The Tigers were in the conversation for a play-off place last year, though fell away towards the end of the season.
And boss Danny Clifton says he’s looking forward to his young side continuing to develop after impressing at times last year.
Most of last year’s squad has returned with only Adrian Bilicz having moved to Whittlesey and top scorer Cal Davies gone to Deeping.
He’s been replaced by Connor Pilbeam, previously at Blackstones, who has netted five times in three pre-season games but who is unavailable on Saturday.
“I think we’re looking ok and after a successful pre-season we’re ready to go,” Clifton said. “We’ve retained 14 of last year’s players which was important and added to that somehave come up through the youth ranks.
“And we’ve brought the two players in.
“Connor has come in to fill the void left by Cal and he’s had a really good pre-season.
“Cal’s moved to Deeping. He’s been absolutely brilliant about it. He did things properly and told everyone he wants to try himself at another level and spoke to all the lads to say he’s thankful for what they did for him.
“We’ll miss him and hopefully he’s successful there, but he’s always welcome back.
“Tom Hoyle has come in from King’s Lynn, but he’s a Holbeach lad who came through the academy here and he looks really good.
“I think the key for me is a lot of the young players are a year older now and learned a lot in that first year of being in the league.
“Because of that experience and how much they’ve grown, it’s almost like having nine new signings. They’re so much better now than they were a year ago.
“We could’ve brought in seven or eight new players but I feel these players are good enough to step up.
“We’ll take each game as it comes, but I believe we’re capable of a top six finish.
“I’ve a squad of 18, 14 of which were playing regularly in the division last year when it was completely new to all but two of them this time 12 months ago.
“This year we’ve got to turn some of the draws we had last season into wins but I feel there’s already signs we’re doing that.”
On Saturday, Holbeach United hosted the Pete Cousins Memorial Trophy where they took on Boston Town.
Despite Pilbeam’s first half goal, it was Boston who lifted the trophy after a 5-1 win.
“It was supposed to be Spalding we were playing but Boston Town stepped in and made a great day of it,” said Clifton. “It was a really good day for the club, for Pete’s family and also a real test for us.
“It was effectively the 1st XI for the first half of the match with a few of the younger players coming on in the second half. And we competed in that first half before they ran away with it in that second period.
“It was the same in our only other pre-season defeat, also against a UCL side in Pinchbeck.
“It’s hugely positive our strongest side are competitive against teams from a higher level.”