Rothwell Corinthians 2
Holbeach United 1
Encouraged player/boss Tom Roberts chose to take the positives from Holbeach United’s 2-1 defeat at Rothwell Corinthians on Thursday night.
The Tigers slipped to a fifth ChromaSport UCL Premier Division loss on the spin after an Andy White double at Seargents Lawn, in what was their eighth game in 18 days.
Josh Ford, who was forced to play at right back, saw a first-half penalty saved before White opened the scoring two minutes before the break.
Rothwell’s White then doubled the lead when he made no mistake from the penalty spot on 64 minutes.
Paul Newcombe hit back for the Tigers nine minutes from time, but Holbeach – who fielded a side that was mix and match of first team players, reserves and under-18s – couldn’t manage a leveller.
With the likes of Andrew Tidswell, Sean Coughlan, Matt Warfield, Jordan Thomas and Stacy Cartwright all missing, Roberts was impressed with the efforts of his make-shift side.
Roberts said: “I thought the lads were absolutely fantastic. I thought the team, which was made up by young lads, reserves and a few old heads, showed real spirit, heart and passion.
“A lot of the senior players are absolutely shattered and needed a rest. People forget that most of the lads have a full working day before midweek matches.
“We’ve been playing Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and it seems like we never have a night off.
“A lot of teams would have thrown the towel in and sacked a few of these matches off. The fact that we haven’t is a credit to the club, with the reserves and under-18s pulling together to help out.
“There were a few stand-out performances – I thought 16-year-old Callum Davies and 17-year-old Dan Dougill were both brilliant. We missed a penalty and had our chances, so the result was a little harsh on us.
“Yes, we’re on a bad run of results. But the main focus has to be on the cup final (against Peterborough Sports on May 2) now – we don’t want to burn the players out ahead of that.
“So we’ll be mixing and matching for the rest of the season.”
The fact Rothwell won was perhaps a blessing in disguise, with the home side still raw after not being awarded the points in the initial match back on February 23.
Rothwell were winning 4-1 with 17 minutes to play when the game was abandoned due to what was thought to be a serious injury to Holbeach’s Nick Jackson.
It was later discovered that Jackson had a calf problem, which left Corinthians infuriated when it was decided that the game must be replayed.
Holbeach host Newport Pagnell on Saturday (3pm), then visit Leicester Nirvana (Tuesday, 8pm) and host Wisbech Town on Thursday (7.45pm).
Tigers: Portas, Ford, Shepherd, Stevens, N Jackson, Newcombe, Gale, Dougill, Pinner (Russon 74), Davies, Chappell. Not used: Roberts.
