Vs Folly Hill Reserves Away
The game started quite lively with both teams looking to assert dominance in midfield. Centre midfield was hotly contested but saw Holybourne centre pair of Dan May and Kim Lydon winning their battles in the air and on the ground. Some fantastic work down the left flank between Jenks and Mickey saw multiple chances created resulting with Fobby latching onto a pinpoint cross from Jenks but heading narrowly over.
The flanks seemed to be Folly Hill’s vulnerable areas and Heff pushed forward with excellent probing runs which we couldn’t seem to finish off and almost putting us 0-1 up were it not for a well-positioned post stopping Ben Biggar’s shot; the post would denying us on three occasions in the half and was an early contender for Man of the Match. Ben, Fobby and Heff all were denied by either the keeper, the post or some bad luck.
Good work in midfield limited Folly Hill to the long ball game as they struggled to get a foothold in the match, their energetic centre forward was kept quiet with great marshalling at the back from Will and Dan Lucas (not May, Will, the other Dan…). It was this good work in midfield which, after about 30 minutes of play, saw Jenks break down the left and he sent in a cross to Dan May who headed superbly into the left hand side of the goal, giving the Folly Hill keeper no chance.
The goal was nothing less than the team deserved but by this stage but we felt we should have had a more comfortable score-line. The goal gave the team more confidence and saw frequent breaks from midfield and searching balls into the box but nothing seemed to fall favourably especially from the rebounds off the woodwork.
At half-time, we deserved to be winning but the team seemed a bit disappointed with the match on a knife edge.
The second half saw more good work and more Holybourne pressure where we had lengthy periods in the Folly Hill half. By now, the Folly Hill midfielders seemed more interested in contesting the refereeing decisions so had stopped contesting balls in the air, such was Kim and Dan’s dominance. On at least half a dozen occasions, the Folly Hill goalkeeper made some outstanding saves, denying Ben Biggar, Fobby and Heff.
Deano replaced Pingu at right-back and looked to open up the Folly Hill left wing, linking well with Dave Smith who later came on for Fobby moving Heff to centre forward. A rare Folly Hill attack seemed to catch us out and Jenks was unlucky to give away a penalty. Big Dave was an imposing figure in the goal and as the Folly Hill striker looked to sweep the ball home, Dave saved superbly down low to his right in what would be a game changing moment had Folly Hill scored. The rebound was cleared and 5 minutes later, Mickey scored one of two goals both assisted by Ben.
Big Dave was called into action again, tipping the ball over the bar from a Folly Hill surge. Folly Hill managed to get a goal back to make the score 1-2, converting a corner, which made for a nervier finale than it should have been; a minor lapse in what was a very solid defensive performance, limiting Folly Hill to the long ball and shouting at the ref. Jenks made way for Tim at the back who was solid in defence.
Mickey bagged his second, an absolute peach, to let us all breathe a sigh of relief and then more good work on the corner saw Mickey dribbling in from the corner flag into the box and winning a penalty.
Ben Biggar stepped up but the Folly Hill goalkeeper made yet another outstanding save down to his right and the rebound was unfortunately drilled across the face of the goal out for a goal-kick.
At the final whistle, Holybourne won 3-1. A good start to the league campaign which sees us in third on goal difference with Woking and Ashtead winning 4-1 and 3-1 respectively, with Hammer and the Old Wombles yet to play. Of note, the team looked very comfortable on the ball and worked very hard for each other.
The score could quite easily have been 10-1 if it wasn’t for a Man of the Match winning performance from the Folly Hill goalkeeper, the post and a bit of bad luck.
There were 5 nominations for MoM, excluding the post. Dave Minette, Dan May, Mickey Wilkinson, Will Ponsonby and Dan Lucas. Dan May was voted Man of the Match for Holybourne. A great goal, tireless in midfield, winning his fair share of tackles, 50/50s and providing a great service to his team mates. Well done, Dan!
