Holyport nearly do rivals a big favour
Combined Counties Football: Lock's side lose to leaders as Heath win again
Flackwell Heath kept the pressure up on league leaders Rayners
Lane in the Combined Counties Premier Division North last night with a solid 2-0 home win over Egham Town at Wilks Park, and for more than an hour it looked like their neighbours Holyport might just do them a favour in the title race.
In the end it wasn't to be, with Sam Lock's Port side going down to a narrow - and slightly harsh 1-0 defeat to Rayners Lane at Summerleaze Park.
But it's a title race that looks like it has the legs to go right to the wire, with Flackwell on another nice run of form following their 3-1 home defeat to the tabletoppers a few weeks ago.
On Tuesday night, the Heathens were able to build on Saturday's magnificent 5-1 away win over Burnham with their 19th league win of the season. They didn't have things all their own way, and keeper Jack Brooker made amends with a ninth minute penalty save having given away the spot-kick.
Wiktor Makowski was more sure-footed from the penalty spot in the 39th minute to give Flackwell a 1-0 half-time lead, while Jack Shakespeare curled home a brilliant second from just outside the box in the 59th minute to seal the victory.
Flackwell are set to meet the league leaders again at The Lane this Saturday, 3pm kick-off, where a win for Chris Ayres' side really would put the cat amongst the pigeons in the battle for silverware. They currently sit three points behind them with a game in hand so a victory for the visitors on Saturday would put them back in the driving seat with 12 matches left to play.
There's also a sense that Rayners Lane aren't quite the allconquering side that came to Wilks Park earlier this month and deservedly left with all three points. In recent weeks they've been held to a 1-1 draw by third placed Bedfont Sports, while 'little old Holyport - as Lock often refers to his team in a tongue in cheek way - pushed them all the way on their own patch on Tuesday. The game was well into the final 25 minutes when Rayners eventually got the goal they craved through Marco Correia, but the home side had plenty of chances to have taken the lead and were in the game right to the bitter end.
Reflecting on the result and his side's performance, Lock said: “You look at the squad and the
money that Rayners Lane have thrown at it. I don't want to use the excuse of little old Holyport. That's one thing, but when we're as competitive as we are, I want to win, and it doesn't matter about infrastructure or anything else apart from 11 vs 11 on the day.
“We've been so competitive lately, and I've also had so many players missing over the past few weeks that I can't question the boys at all. The last three performances have probably been better than the three that we won before that. I can't ask any more of them, they've been brilliant.”
Holyport sit 13th in the table, still only six points off the play-off places after picking up a point from matches against Virginia Water (2-2), Egham Town (1-2) and Rayners Lane (0-1). In all three they've been competitive, with Lock feeling his side had 'battered' Egham on Saturday without getting their just deserts.
“We've only picked up one point from our last three games, but it could easily have been seven,” said Lock. “It's small margins at the end of the day. They (Flackwell) helped me out and sent us some footage. They're not silly, they no Rayners Lane are a top side. You've got to be on it, and we really, really were. But what's coming to light in the current slog of playing Saturday/Tuesday, if you've got a small squad, you're going to get exhausted. It's just the nature of it. The teams with
more pulling power have a bit more depth.
“Players are progressing and moving on from us and others are coming in to replace them. We're enjoying it and we're competitive and we think we can do something special, but it's just those small margins.”
On Saturday's defeat at Egham, he added: “Everyone would say that's a tricky game, but honestly, we battered Egham. We should have been completely out of sight. We had eight really good opportunities to score in the first half and we hit the post. They nicked it in the last 15 minutes but apart from that we completely ran all over Egham. I'd even go as far as saying it was our best performance of the season barring the last 15 minutes. Their two shots on goal got them two goals. Now. we're dominating games and looking dangerous whereas we used to have to hold on and try and nick something. I'm proud of the boys.”
They now have a well-earned 10day break before hosting Risborough Rangers on March 2.
“We'll train and then we have a run of five games, and I've set my team a target for those five games,” added Lock. “If they can get the target, I’m setting for those five games then I genuinely feel the play-offs won't be out of the question. That's what we've got to think about, we want to be aiming high.”