Clifton rues a poor first half as Holbeach United are beaten at home by Sudbury Reserves

Holbeach United 1 AFC Sudbury Reserves 2

Danny Clifton bemoaned Holbeach United’s lack of cutting edge as they slipped to a 2-1 home defeat against AFC Sudbury Reserves on Saturday.

Benjamin Monteith-Weed and Brae Smith grabbed the goals for the visitors either side of an equaliser from Harvey Henderson at Carter’s Park.

The Tigers had a big shout for a penalty waved away in the closing stages, but joint boss Clifton didn’t want to use that as an excuse for his side – who have now lost two of their opening three games in Thurlow Nunn League Division One North.

“The first-half performance was nowhere near good enough,” bemoaned Clifton. “The second half was much better when we had something to chase.

“But we just didn’t have that cutting edge due to players either being away or not quite being sharp enough.

“We did well to get the score back to 1-1, but showed a bit of naivety and continued to go gung-ho and chase the game. Consequently, we got punished on the break.

“We had a stone-wall penalty turned down at the end and that was the focus after the game for many people.

“But the reality is that we should have been better before then. If we’re 4-1 ahead at that point, not getting the penalty isn’t such a big deal.

“I wanted the lads to be more aggressive in their play, but the first half performance just didn’t live up to that.

“The tempo was better in the second half, but if we’d been at it from the start I think we’d have won the game against what was a very young Sudbury side.”

Tigers: Blake, Parker-Meadows (Johnson), Gilbert (Nicholson), H Henderson, Robertson, Calvert, Carter, Millinson, Davies, Yambasu, Haime (F Henderson). Not used: Rigby.

Attendance: 65.