Steve Hole is derby-day hero for Haughmond

Hole is now joint-top scorer in West Midlands League Premier Division with 24 after scoring all three goals in a 3-0 win on Saturday, earning him the match ball for the second game in a row.

Lethal in front of goal, he scored 30 in the division above last season in a team that was relegated, and is currently on course to eclipse his tally from two seasons ago that fired Haughmond to promotion.

He’s turned down plenty of offers to play elsewhere, leading Williams to praise his loyalty.

And rather ominously for the rest of the league, the Haughmond boss reckons Hole can play even better.

“In all honesty he didn’t have his best of games, but he still scored a hat-trick!” said Williams.

“He’s done it for years. He scored 30 goals in a team that went down last year. He scored 40-odd two years ago.

“He’s just lethal in front of goal. The second goal sums it up, the ball is bouncing around the box, and it’s not luck, but it always seems to fall to him.

Offers

“He was my first phone call to be honest when I got the job in the summer. I rang him to see what his thoughts are.

“He’s had plenty of offers to go elsewhere, but he’s decided to stay. He’s a local lad, a loyal lad, and it fits in with his lifestyle and work. It’s a well run club, he respects that, everyone gets along.”

Hole’s hat-trick was part of a perfect weekend for Haughmond, who gained ground on leaders Tividale following their defeat to Bewdley Town.

They’re still 12 points behind in second, but with three games in hand and a match against Tividale looming in January.

Haughmond celebrated their derby-day win with their annual Christmas party.

“It’s always nice to have it after three points,” said Williams. “Within the dressing room promotion is obviously the aim.

“We’ve got a long way to go, the games in hand haven’t helped us, I’d rather have points on the board because the gap looks bigger.

“Second doesn’t get you anywhere in this league. There’s no play-off, which I don’t agree with.

“But we’ve got the ability in the dressing room to go up. In January we’ve got Black Country Rangers, Bewdley, and Tividale. That will define our season.

“But they will be irrelevant if we don’t win the two games before that because the teams at the top are relentless.”

Williams is only 28 years-old and this is his first season managing Haughmond, the club he’s spent the last 10 years playing for.

But Haughmond are second and have given themselves a fighting chance of bouncing straight back up to the Midland Premier League.

“It’s going alright,” he said. “When I got offered the job I was a bit apprehensive.

“But it’s going well, mainly because of the lads, They’re committed every week, they get paid nothing which is a rarity at the level we play at.”

At 28, Williams is in charge of players his own age and older, and it sometimes feels odd

“We’ve got a fairly young side,” he said. “Dave Howell’s 34, he’s a PE teacher at Thomas Telford.

“It’s a bit odd when you’re trying to tell him how to play football, because he’s older and done his coaching badges.

“But the lads buy into it. At other clubs it would be difficult, but we’ve got no big egos, everyone gets their head down.”

Williams is grateful to former manager Mark Jenks and ‘the perfect clubman’ Howell Evans, who both help him out, and thanked chairman Stu Williams.

“He does everything,” said the manager. “It’s his club, without him it wouldn’t run.”

The future looks bright for Haughmond. As well as a young manager, they’ve got some young players coming through.

“We were down to the bare bones on Saturday,” said Williams. “We had five or six regulars missing so we had two young lads aged 17 playing.

“Adam Knott came in from the youth team and played right-back. That was the most pleasing thing about the result.”

Derby day defeat leaves Bridgnorth in 12th place, just one point above Shawbury United, who lost 3-2 at home to Wellington.

Elsewhere, Shifnal were beaten 4-0 by Malvern Town and Wem Town lost 3-1 to promotion-chasing Wolverhampton Casuals.