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(League)
Holt Reserves (2) v (1) Martham Reserves
After last week's cup performance, Holt were in a confident mood going into this fixture. Manager Chris Cude also had the luxury to choose from a full squad, which was probably the strongest to date. Cude had a hard decision to make, to make way for Tom Graver and Chris Long, who were handed down from the first team squad. Unfortunately it was Marty Alford and Ben Hopper, who were the unlucky two to join Richard Hooker on the bench having played well last week. Holt started slow and did not seem up for the game, perhaps thinking this would be an easy three points. It took a shot from Martham to wake the Holt players up and make them realize that you have to earn the points in every game. Holt started to get the ball down and play some nice football at times. However to many bad touches and passes always made the game scrappy and Holt never really looked much of a threat up front. The first half ended 0-0 and Holt knew they had to earn the points in the second half and to be patient. Holt came out in the second half and started to create many chances, only for Martham's keeper to pull of some great saves. Martham were the team to break Holt's defense down first, who to be fair were playing well as a unit again. The Martham forward was played in and his shot was well saved by Vince Peart low to his right, only for the rebound to be chipped over the covering defenders head. Holt had about 25 Min's left to get something out of the game. Holt were pushing for a break through, with every player determined to put things right. It finally came with a well placed header by Cude. This made the game very scrappy with time running out and both teams would not settle for the draw. Holt delivered a sucker punch to Martham and got a second goal, this time by Long, who worked hard all game up front and got what he deserved. Holt were hanging on to the lead and just like Thorpe last week, Martham looked to have scored in the dying minutes, only for the ball to be cleared of the line by Tom Graver. Final score 2-1 and although it was not Holt's best game, they were pleased with the result. Man of the match was Micky Thompson, who played well at the back again and hardly put a foot wrong.
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