The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Clifton All Whites 1
Holbeach United 3
In-form frontman Josh Ford netted twice to fire Holbeach United past a battling Clifton All Whites outfit in the Buildbase FA Vase on Saturday.
Ford opened the scoring with a first-half penalty against the East Midlands Counties League Premier Division side at Green Lane, but only a few key saves from Ricky Drury kept the Tigers 1-0 ahead at the break.
Hosts Clifton levelled early in the second period, only for a header from returning skipper Spencer Tinkler to edge Holbeach ahead late in the game.
Ford then eased the pressure with his second to clinch the men in black and yellow a tie at South Normanton Athletic in the next round on October 12.
Despite being pleased with the victory and a few individual performances, Tigers boss Danny Hussey wasn’t overly impressed with what he saw on the day.
“It was a nice place to play,” said Hussey. “When you draw teams you know very little about, it’s always a step into the unknown.
“But it was a good set-up and they looked after us.
“They are a good side and they caused us quite a few problems.
“But, if I’m honest, we dropped our levels again and it wasn’t a great performance from the lads.
“At 1-0 up I thought we’d take command, but our standards weren’t good enough and only a few saves from Ricky Drury kept us ahead for a while.
“I don’t want to keep saying the same things – maybe my standards are too high – but I need to see more from them than what I did in this game.
“Obviously it’s a positive that we won the game and are in the hat for the next round, although that looks to be a tough draw for us.
“I also thought that Luke Wilson was excellent for us again and Josh Ford is bang in form with four goals in his last two games.
“I don’t want to be too critical, but I know that we’ll get punished if we play like this against the better sides later in the season.”
The win banks Holbeach £725 in FA prize money.
Tigers: Drury, Wilson, N Jackson (Avis), Braithwaite, Fairweather, Lockie, Setchell, Oliver (Tinkler), Ford, Bird. Not used: T Smith.
