Holbeach United are beaten by Great Yarmouth Town in the Thurlow Nunn League Division One North
A disappointing second half of the season continued for Holbeach United on Saturday as they were defeated in their penultimate match of the Thurlow Nunn League campaign.
The Tigers went down to a 2-1 away loss at Great Yarmouth Town in their Division One North match.
It means Danny Clifton’s side have won just twice while also drawing five times in their 16 matches in 2023.
He said: “We were in fourth place after our game on Boxing Day. We were doing well and winning a lot of football matches.
“Since the defeat at Whittlesey on January 2, it’s been really tough for some reason which is down to me and the players.
“I had a good chat with them after the game on Saturday and said that I will take some of the responsibility because I let some of them off the hook when things got a bit tricky.
“I allowed us to become that team that counter-attacks when they’ve won the ball back because we seemed a bit more comfortable doing it.
“I should really have stuck by my guns and, although I knew we were drawing too many football matches, we weren’t losing many.
“When we reverted to that, we started losing games rather than drawing and the proof was there again on Saturday.”
The Tigers had started with a 4-4-2 formation as they looked to dictate the game against a 14th-placed Yarmouth side.
However, Clifton felt his side looked uncomfortable and reverted to a 3-5-2 as they struggled to get a foothold in the game.
They then gifted the hosts the lead as goalkeeper Max Rigby hit a free-kick across his penalty area which Luke Nicholson left for Jordan Oldham without spotting an approaching home forward who latched onto the ball before finishing into an unguarded net.
Holbeach showed more desire after the break to get back into the contest and equalised through a header from Fin Henderson.
However, Yarmouth then snatched the win as a misplaced free-kick by the hosts went under the foot of John Yambasu and into the area where Joe Millinson was penalised for his challenge.
Millinson was booked and Yarmouth scored from the resultant spot kick before both sides finished the match with 10 men.
Yarmouth’s Ryan Jacobs was shown a straight red card for a bad challenge on Will Barnes with Millinson then collecting a second caution from the skirmish which followed.
Holbeach were unable to find a second equaliser in the remaining time and now find themselves in 10th place ahead of their final league game of the season tonight (Tuesday).
They travel to Harwich & Parkeston for the replayed game after winning 4-2 in the original fixture where Holbeach player Harvey Robertson was booked twice but not dismissed by the match officials.
Reserve team boss Mark Greenacre is taking charge of the side with Clifton unable to make the 220-mile round midweek trip due to work commitments.
The Tigers are expected to field a side mixed with both first and reserve team players against their fourth-placed hosts.
Tigers: Rigby, Nicholson, Cook, Oldham, Henderson, Carter, Barnes, Wirkowski, Davies, Yambasu, Frost. Subs: Robertson, Millinson, B Clifton.