ASHBY IVANHOE RESERVES 1-7 HOLWELL SPORTS RESERVES
LEICESTERSHIRE COMBINATION DIVISION ONE
SATURDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2011

Ashby Ivanhoe Reserves had a day to forget in the Leicestershire Combination and visitors Holwell Sports Reserves took full advantage of a poor performance to run out easy 7-1 winners.

The match started slowly and with the majority of the play in the centre of the pitch it took 20 minutes before the first chance at goal came and it fell to the visitors when a player was left with just the keeper to beat but Chris Hodge made a save and the shot went past the post.

Holwell continued to create the chances and after a 25th minute chance from inside the area went narrowly wide of goal they opened the scoring a minute later when a free kick midway inside the Ashby half was played into the area and a flicked header made its way into the corner of the net for 1-0.

Ten minutes later the lead was doubled when Ashby gave the ball away cheaply in their own half which saw the ball passed forward and a powerful shot found the net despite Hodge getting a hand to the ball.

Inside the final five minutes of the first half Ashby had a chance to pull a goal back when a ball over the top found Elliott Bott who controlled the ball well despite being under pressure from the defence and his pass across to Sam Kirk should have been put away but the shot was hit wide.

Ashby did reduce the arrears in the 43rd minute when Luke Thorogood burst forward into the area and his shot was heading for goal until a defender was tracking back and stopped the shot but Bott was also chasing down and he managed to force the ball home to make it 2-1.

Ashby were hoping to hang on until the break but on the stroke of half time Holwell restored their two goal advantage when they failed to close down the Holwell keeper who launched the ball down field and the striker controlled the ball before sending a unstoppable shot into the top corner for a 3-1 lead at the break.

It got worse for Ashby at the start of the second half as within a minute of the restart the visitors added a fourth when on the left touchline a player was given time to set up a cross which came into the area and the shot beat Hodge for 4-1.

The second half saw Holwell control possession and Ashby were struggling to get out of their own half and in the 64th minute it became 5-1 to the visitors when a poor clearance from Ashby resulted in a cross back into the area and a player was left with a simple finish.

The scoreline remained the same until the final five minutes when Holwell added two late goals. Firstly in the 85th minute a ball over the top of defence was brought down inside the area and the player was left with plenty of time to steady himself before placing the ball beyond Hodge and then in the first minute of stoppage time the scoring was complete when from the edge of the area a shot was struck over the keeper to make it 7-1 and Ashby’s winless run was extended to six matches.