Old Boys get the better of Daisy again in cup clash.

 

 

 

 

 

Daisy Hill’s chances of progressing in the Edward Case Cup were dashed on Saturday when they lost 2-1 to Holker Old Boys in a well contested cup clash at the Plumb Factory Stadium. Daisy led at halftime because to Calum McHale’s third goal of the season, but Luke Ellis equalised for the visitors three minutes later. Tom Dawson scored the winning goal midway through the second half, advancing Holker to the competition’s quarter-finals. Daisy manager Lee Hill expressed the dismay in the home camp later.

“I thought we were definitely good value for the lead at half time,” Hill told the crowd. “It was a bad game in terms of overall quality; neither team had much skill, and the two goals we conceded were clearly avoidable. “However, it has been the story of our season. I can’t keep claiming week after week that it’s a new team, and we had to make further changes today. “There are only so many times you can bang that drum, and the lads need to learn soon. “Holker is who they are; they are near the top of the league, and this is the third time this season we’ve played a close game against them. Sometimes styles clash and maybe our two styles clash to the point that it’s always a close game.

“We changed things up and gave some guys a chance, and we’re still going head to head with them. “It was a midfield battle for much of the game, as we expected, but I felt Holker won more second balls than we did, and in this league, that is what makes the difference.” “They regrouped a little at halftime and evidently looked at our shape and readjusted a little because they thought they might gain a boost of joy by making a small change. “The second goal was unfortunate, as I believe it might have been averted with greater communication, particularly in the lead-up.

“I thought Lucas Robinson did well for us up front in his first game; he’d only trained with us once and performed admirably.” He got a chance in the second half, and he definitely deserved it given his work rate. “It was another example of how close calls haven’t gone our way, because if it had gone in, the game would have been different, but it wasn’t to be. “But we go again on Saturday, and by then everyone should be back fit, and we’ll have a full squad to choose from.” In the first half hour, there were only two noteworthy goal attempts, with the first chance arriving on 15 minutes when an effort from Holker’s Luke Davey beat Morgan Newns in the Daisy goal but sailed just wide of the post.

Daisy captain Jake O’Brien was unlucky four minutes later with a free kick from 25 yards that went just wide. For much of the rest of the first half, the game became a tenacious midfield struggle, with Daisy thanking Newns on 37 minutes for tipping a Dawson header over at full stretch. But it was Daisy who broke the deadlock on 40 minutes, when Prince Haywood’s perfect pass put McHale in on goal, and he beat the keeper with a calm finish to put his side ahead.

In a close game with little chances, it appeared to be a critical moment, but Holker equalised three minutes into the second half with the first chance generated after the interval. It was a forgettable moment for the Daisy defenders, which failed to cope with a cross into the box, and the ball fell easily into the path of Ellis, who hammered his shot through a swarm of people into the corner of the net. The game then followed the pattern of the first half, with clear chances few and far between, with Newns only called on to deal with a shot from Tyler Spence, and at the other end Holker keeper Matt Bailey smothered a shot from Alex Dodd, before the visitors took the lead just after the midway point of the half.

The ball was swept wide to Spence on the right flank, and he raced forward before squaring a pass into the path of Dawson, who buried a shot past Newns from 12 yards.

Within a minute Holker found the back of the net again, but Davey was ruled offside by the assistant’s flag.

Daisy’s debuting centre-forward, Lucas Robinson, had been causing issues for the Holker defenders with his aggressive running, and he came agonisingly close to tying the game in the final 20 minutes. The Holker defenders was caught off guard by a ball over the top, and Robinson, spying keeper Bailey off his line, beautifully chipped the ball over the head of the stranded keeper from all of 30 yards, only to see it float narrowly wide of the post. Daisy return to play this weekend, when they face Darwen in the North West Counties League First Division North.

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