Overton 1 - 1 Holywell Town

It was a slow start from the side which allowed Overton to create headaches for the Defence early on. With a distinct lack of tempo to our play the opposition were pressing on to the back four and Lew Harrison at right back had his work cut out against a lively left winger. Paul Turner returning in goal was forced to make a couple of saves and conceding free kicks in dangerous areas allowed the opposition to look dangerous from them.

It wasn’t too long though before the lads found their way in possession and a couple of good moves worked through the midfield created chances on goal which couldn’t be taken. Debutant for the reserves Shaun Pritchard turned cleverly on the edge of the box but shot wide and Connor Hughes went close after some good work down the left side.

We still allowed ourselves to be put under pressure by our slow tempo out of possession and Overton capitalised on that scoring to make it 1-0 around the half hour mark through Chris Bryan.

That goal seemed to wake us up and the rest of the half resulted in a much livelier team who pressed and harassed opposition players and caused problems in possession however the sides went into half time still 1-0 to Overton

During half time the lads were reminded of their responsibilities and took that on board into the second half. This resulted in a lot of possession in the opponents half throughout and relentless pressure on the opposition goal.

It was still taking some time to break down a well organised Overton defence. It was a lot better but we still needed to get a breakthrough. That didn’t come until around the 80th minute when Connor Hughes carrying on the great form he has shown this season rifled a shot from inside the box to level the match. With 10 minutes to go the team didn’t settle for 1-1 and kept pressing, creating good chances, the best falling to goalscorer Connor Hughes who couldn’t keep his close range header on target.

Overton did cause problems on the counter attack with Holywell pushing for the winner and a good header from the Overton forward forced Paul Turner to make a fantastic save to keep the ball out

So the game finished 1-1. There is plenty for the lads to learn from the game moving forward. On a heavy pitch and against an organised defence though the young reserve side did show character to press their opponent so much in the 2nd half and with 6 players Under 18 finishing the game it was a positive to see and a valuable learning experience for this team

I would like to give a notable mention to Sam Roberts who played his first full 90 minutes for the side and was excellent in the holding role in midfield. At 17 years old he is showing great promise and continuing his development will grow into a big part of this team

Man of the Match (Holywell Town) – Sam Roberts

The Reserves now move on to the Horace Wynne Cup, they face Aston Park Rangers away on Saturday in a 1.30pm Kick off
Squad – Paul Turner, Lew Harrison, Jak Bates, Alex Roberts, Ross Tate, Sam Roberts, Lew Reed, Gareth Thomas, Jack Gibbons, Connor Hughes, Shaun Pritchard, Niall Lewis & Harri Williams