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Attendence:43

Holmesdale played their 28th game of 08/09 at home to Lordswood in another must win tie in their push to keep pace with the league leaders. Lordswood were the only side in the Kent Premier that the Dalers had not taken any points from this season. In fact, in the very short history of games between the two, Holmesdale had only managed a draw so far, which would not be good enough in this tie given the circumstances. Both sides had enforced changes due to the usual reasons and early on the game had no flow to it as each struggled to impact on the other. For the Lords it was a slightly cautious find our feet approach and for Holmesdale they passed the ball more effectively but that either evaporated in the last third or was comfortably halted by the visitors.

The home side, with two debutants starting the match, did have a couple of early efforts from Corneille, who missed the target, and one of the new boys, Surge Musungu, whose shot was deflected wide, strangely no corner was given. For a period the small crowd and probably both benches were frustrated at a scrappy spell which only had one stand out moment. The Dalers full back Nicoli was on the receiving end of a dangerous and very badly judged challenge. He caught his opponent’s studs full in the face, enough to give him at the least a bloody nose. There were gasps and cringes at the contact and fortunately no massive over reaction on the field from both sets of players. After the obvious cause for concern for the Dalers no.2 there was no less astonishment at the referee who failed to at least caution the player. No one likes to see a player sent off, for what may have just been a serious momentary lapse in judgement, but a yellow card should have been shown.

Clearly the majority saw this as an error by the ref, even more so when he went on to show yellow cards to players on both sides as they battled to gain control of the match. None of the tackles really warranted this especially since he had been so lenient earlier. Springett and Corneille in midfield fought hard, with Corneille also making an opening for Greaves. Rowan Arnott in goal had to be alert and he was as he tipped away the strike. Lordswood managed to force Harwood to save from a free kick however he made this look routine and had little else to do in the first half. Morrison had looked perhaps the biggest threat with his skill and pace, however, he looked up in disbelief as he failed to win a free kick after being fouled just outside the box.

With a few passes finally put together late on the Dalers looked a bit more like themselves but the most they had was a penalty appeal which would have been extremely harsh on a defender unable to get out of the way of a bouncing ball. Westerman, Greaves and Morrison had all linked up to deliver a couple of crosses which in truth the home side never really looked like scoring from.

0-0 45 mins.

The second half was initially much of the same with Holmesdale’s final ball being their biggest problem. Lordswood did not offer much going forward but also had not been too exposed at the back. Morrison was again a threat and after linking up with Musungu he under hit a cross into the box. On his next break he managed to beat the full back but his cross went over every head and was just too long. It was beginning to feel like one of those days particularly when the Lords won a free kick and hit the top of the crossbar at the other end. Musunga had the first clear chance for Holmesdale as he chased a long Harwood kick down field. Both centre backs hesitated and Arnott came off his line as the no. 10 headed the ball at goal. He rose above the defenders and beat Arnott only to see the ball bounce just wide of the empty net.

Holmesdale had responded to the crossbar wake up call well and the second clear opening fell to Greaves. He was wide open after a free kick and the ball sat up nicely in the box but he went for power from an angle and he blazed over the bar. Counter attacking football has been a big part of the home side’s success this campaign and it was starting to influence the match. Westerman was next to bring a save from Arnott as the pressure started to build. Joel Greaves went on a run from just inside the half way line and beat a couple of defenders and found himself inside the box again. He turned a recovering defender and had the goal at his mercy only to shoot wide with his left foot. The run had deserved a goal.

Lordswood were now consistently and seriously on the back foot for the first time in this game. Morrison burst forward again and brought a really smart save from Arnott. The rebound could have gone any where and hearts were in mouths as it fell to Greaves and Arnott some how produced another excellent stop. Just as all must have thought the match was perhaps heading for a not meant to be draw AJ picked up the ball and was running at the Lords again. He fired a low cross across goal and Ben Holliday deflected it in past the outstanding Arnott who was helpless to stop it.

1-0 72 mins.

Welcome relief to all home supporters and the players had certainly made hard work of it. The visitors were unable to create anything late on to change things and Holmesdale made a few changes with one eye on Tuesday’s difficult game against fourth placed Faversham. Holmesdale had been the better side but had also been average compared with recent other matches. Over all they were poor in front of goal and failed consistently in their attempts at recreating those high standards we have witnessed the team produce this season. Not Playing at your best and still winning is often said to be one of the secrets of successful sides, but no one ever said it is good to watch in a disappointing match. No doubt this was another important victory though as the 3 points keeps real history within the grasps of the players and football club.

1-0 90 mins.

Holmesdale

DANNY HARWOOD (C) (7.0), CHRISTOS NICOLI (7.5), ROLAND DUO (6.5), FRANK BUNANI (7.5), TOM McQUADE (7.0), PAUL SPRINGETT (7.5), DANIEL WESTERMAN (7.0), CHARLIE CORNEILLE (6.5), JOEL GREAVES (7.0), SURGE MUSUNGU (7.0), AJ MORRISION (7.5)

Substitutes: C.HATT, R. BEDFORD, S. JOSHUA-RATTANONG (5.5), S.WHITE (6.5), J.THOMPSON (7.0)

HJ Sullivan 06/04/2009