CHICKERELL UNITED 4

HOLT UNITED 5

CHICKERELL United suffered Dorset Senior Trophy heartbreak with a late Holt United goal condemning them to a 5-4 loss at the first round stage after a fantastic, classic contest.

Chickerell had led 2-1, before being pegged back to 4-2, but they managed to recover to 4-4 until the last minute of injury time when Holt struck once more.

The Chickens started well and were on top for the first 30 minutes and got their reward when Nick Voss cut inside and smashed in from 18 yards after half-an-hour.

Holt then equalised after a good move down the right-hand side saw a scuffed shot bounce over Chickerell’s Ian Bickerstaff.

However, Charlie Rogers then pulled off a ridiculous lob from the halfway line that caught the Holt goalkeeper off his line before turning to the Chickerell bench to raise his arms aloft as the Chickens grabbed a 2-1 lead at half-time.

Minutes into the second half, it was Holt’s turn to score a jaw-dropping lob over Bickerstaff from 40 yards to equalise.

Holt then fired in two goals in quick succession to turn the match on its head and claim a 4-2 lead with 70 minutes gone.

Matt Stickland then got the Chickens’ tails up with a goal to narrow it to 4-3.

This paid dividends as the hosts began to dominate the match once again.

This eventually paid off when James Hansford got the ball on the left-hand side, cut past two players before getting the ball on to his right boot and hit a lovely shot into the far post to equalise with 80 minutes on the clock.

However, there would be one last twist as the defending champions broke Chickerell hearts.

The Chickens lost the ball on the halfway line and Holt quickly countered before their striker arrowed a pin-point perfect shot into the bottom corner past Bickerstaff and to hand the cup holders the lead.

Chickerell manager Shaun Murphy said: “It must have been a great game to watch for the crowd.

“I think the game could have gone either way, to be honest.

“It was just the timing of the last goal which was a bit of a sucker punch.

“The performance, the effort and the character of the team was superb.

“It was very good to watch. It was a good advert for local football.”

Chickerell travel to Blandford for their Dorset Senior League clash on Saturday (3pm).

Chickens: Bickerstaff, Cracknell, Daniels, Rogers, Coles, Ellis, Harvey, D Welch, Hansford, Stickland, Voss. Subs not used: McCarthy, Sandeman, Miller

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