Holywood seal promotion to 1A
NAFL DIVISION 1B
ORANGEFIELD OB 1
HOLYWOOD 5
HOLYWOOD will be playing their football in Division 1A next season after victory against Orangefield OB in east Belfast at the weekend rubber stamped promotion.
In a remarkable campaign, the men in green have lost just once since the end of August, that coming in the form of a narrow defeat away to title favourites Willowbank.
Mark Crawford’s side were on the front foot from the first whistle on Saturday as they looked to seal the deal and it was clear from the outset the danger they possessed on both flanks. Calum James kept up his tremendous form as he headed in from a sumptuous Josh Burns cross after 10 minutes to settle the nerves and he added to his tally with a crisp finish from eight yards after a mistake from a home defender.
The best goal of the half however came from Dan Hamilton, who progressed down the right flank before letting fly from the edge of the area into the far right corner.
The second half was only 10 minutes old when a mis-controlled pass by Burns let the home striker through. As the Holywood man tried to recover he brought his man down and the referee had no other option but to give him his marching orders.
Squeaky bum time? Apparently not – the response was immediate from Holywood with a worldie from Collie Crawford sending the away support into raptures yet again. The momentum swung back and it wasn’t long before JJ McKinley scored after a well worked corner. Ryan James made a great reflex save shortly after as the game opened up, with the home side opening their account with 15 minutes to go after sloppy play from a throw in. Calum James nearly got his hat-trick which would have taken him to 40 for the season as a deft, slide rule pass from Rudi Little set him away but the effort slid agonisingly past the post.
The same pairing then nearly opened up the home side again but the ’keeper made a decent save.
Late on, Ryan James made another smart save in injury time to keep the score at 5-1. The final whistle went and the celebrations from the players, management and large away support commenced.
After the disappointment of missing out last year with only minutes to go, the response from the men in green since the end of August has been nothing short of extraordinary.
