Tigers’ down after defeat in battling display

Holbeach United’s bottom place finish in the United Counties League Premier Division has been confirmed despite a battling performance that saw them clapped off the field.

The long-since inevitable relegation spot was confirmed with the 5-2 defeat at Gresley, but the Tigers gave the title chasers a fright coming from 3-0 down to make it 3-2 until two late goals sealed matters.

“It was always going to happen,” manager Danny Clifton said. “We’ve not even talked about finishing bottom.

“It’s now about planning what we’re going to do next.

“We’ll get to the end of the season. Have a break and then sit down and look at what we’ve got and what we can bring in.

“A lot of it depends on what division we’re going to be in.

“If we do go down, we need to rebuild that winning mentality and I believe we can do that with a lot of the players we’ve already got.”

The games don’t get any easier for Holbeach with third placed Anstey Nomads, who also remain in the hunt for the title, up next.

Clifton hopes to welcome back those who have had COVID for the game but ahead of the Gresley game the Tigers lost Lewis Baughan to injury for the rest of the season, Luke Chester for personal reasons and

Joshua Wilson who has been recalled from his loan by parent club Yaxley.

But the club have brought in former Oundle player Owen Dalliday, the brother of Tigers’ Callum.

“Anstey will be another tough game,” said Clifton. “But we’ll look to build on the positives from Saturday and look to build in the four games left.

“It was a brilliant effort from the players against Gresley and in front of a big crowd who clapped our players off at the end.

“They stuck to the game plan for 75 minutes and then, after falling behind, also stuck to their guns and tried to get the goal back.

“Their manager came into our dressing room afterwards saying how impressed he was with the players.

“They’re all young players who are continuing to learn and there’s lots of good things to come from them.

“At one point after the game we were in the clubhouse and I realised three of the players there weren’t old enough to buy a drink and that’s with five of them who weren’t old enough having already set off home.

“So we have eight players who aren’t old enough to buy alcohol, but we have to keep going and those players will develop.

“It’s all about experiences and hopefully I can keep a lot of them together.

“We just need to get a foothold in a game, such as getting to half time without conceding a goal and be more difficult to break down.

“I know the scoreline doesn’t suggest it, but I feel that once again we were stronger in the second half on Saturday.”