AFTER stringing together three excellent wins, Sevenoaks welcomed second placed Holmesdale to Greatness Park, and with two passing teams on display, everyone hoped for an exciting and free-flowing game.

Sevenoaks welcomed back Pearson and Spackman, but Hart, Grant, Ahwan and Evans all remained absent.

After a late bout of sickness Charm took a place on the bench and Andy Constable returned to the starting line up.

Like the earlier encounter, Holmesdale started at a quick pace, confidently moving the ball around and putting the hosts under intense pressure. Had it not been for two excellent saves by Williams in the home goal, the visitors would have opened the scoring within the first five minutes.

As it was, the visitors did not have to wait too long to break the deadlock.

In the 13th minute, Holmesdale won possession and a series of neat passes found a well marshalled Greaves on the edge of the home penalty area. He produced a good turn and coupled with an unfortunate slip by the defender, got behind the Sevenoaks defence, and despite a good effort by Williams, the prolific striker found the net with a powerful strike.

Sevenoaks immediately rallied and worked hard in getting back into the game, but with a well marshalled defence and a deep midfield, the home side struggled to create any clear cut opportunities.

On the few occasions that Elliott or Foreman wriggled free from the very close attention of the Holmesdale rearguard, their respective finishes all failed to test the visitors' goalkeeper.

The game was now descending into a scrappy midfield battle, with quality at a premium, but just before the interval, Sevenoaks' one opportunity to get on level terms came and went, as Elliott eventually beat the Holmesdale defence and sprinted into the visitors penalty area.

Just as he was about to shoot, the back-peddling defender clipped the pacy forward's heels.

But rather than awarding the expected penalty, the referee waved away the hosts appeals. So half-time arrived with the visitors one goal to the good.

The second-half continued very much like the first, Holmesdale getting players behind the ball and working hard in defence, and deploying the counter attack to good effect. Sevenoaks now camped within the visitors' half, struggled to find space and opportunities were few and far between.

The best chances came from set plays and on one such occasion, a well worked Agana freekick crashed against the crossbar with the Holmesdale goalkeeper rooted to the spot.

With Elliott, and Foreman both suffering injuries early in the half, Sevenoaks' attacking options were becoming severely limited and Holmesdale were now easily dealing with the hosts attacking play. It was therefore no surprise that the visitors were getting more success with their counter attacking tactics.

In Greaves they have a clever forward, who twice during the half almost conjured up a second goal, but poor finishing by his team-mates and smart defending ensured the score remained 1-0.

As it was, rather than building up to an exciting climax, the game descended into time-wasting and a scrappy midfield battle and by the end, it was a welcome relief to hear the final whistle.

Whilst the game was a disappointing spectacle, the home side at least matched the title challengers step for step.

Town's next match is against Faversham at Greatness Park on Saturday.