With a far more complete team, Stur were hopeful that they could be resurgent and bounce back from a poor away defeat at the hands of lowly Cranborne the previous week. However this would be a tough game against Holt, 4th in the table and still seething from an opening day loss against us at their place.

Unfortunately the Marshall seemed to start just as they ended the Cranborne game; within the opening minutes, Holt could and perhaps should have been one to the good if not for an acrobatic save from Shear, when a ball in from out wide found a midfield runner completely unmarked and with a free-header. This proved to be the omen for the rest of the first half, as poor marking once again resulted in the opening goal. A simple corner was put into the home penalty box and Gilbert found himself completely unmarked to open the scoring for Holt with a strong header. Again 10 minutes later a corner undid Stur; a free header at the back post was saved down by Shear but the rebound was put home by the oncoming Willis. 2-0.

The half was yet to get worse. After yet another scare, where Wood made a fantastic tackle to stop former Stur-boy Stone going through one-on-one, Holt began to string some fine passing moves together, causing the lackluster home side to go into self-destruct. Firstly runners from midfield came through the centre before playing the ball into Gallagher's feet, who spun and finished into the top corner with aplomb. Then a ball down the Stur right was crossed by Stone into the path of Gallagher, who again made no mistake, slotting the ball past the despairing dive of Shear. 4-0 and a first half to forget, although if chances from Thomas and Neville had found the net, the away side may well have been within closer reach.

At half time the options to the home side were simple: roll over and concede more goals, or show some passion and gain some respect from what had so far been an embarrassing and poor afternoon. Fortunately, the squad chose the latter, and came out fighting. The introduction of Jones and Luke Geddes made a definite impact with just over half an hour to go, when Jones took on two men skillfully before playing the ball out wide to Gage, who whipped a first time ball into the box. This caused trouble for the ex-Stur keeper Knights who palmed the ball into the path of Geddes to slot home. 4-1.

The passion the team was showing in the second half made you wonder what went so badly wrong in the first, and with Goodwin dropped into a deeper midfield role, Stur were winning more midfield battles and retaining the ball far more effectively. It was the same combination that created the second goal, with Jones again opening up the play and spreading the ball wide to Gage who swung in a deeper cross. Knights made a hash of it and Jones, who had started the move, showed the hunger to make the box and bundle the ball home. 4-2.

This really gave Stur belief and the desire to overturn the remaining deficit. Neat football in and around the final third ended with the ball at Manuel's feet, who turned his man only to be brought down. Despite this, and to the disbelief of all involved, the penalty shout was turned down by the referee. On top of this, a ball into the box was met low by Thomas, who managed only to strike the keeper with his effort. From there on in there was a lot of effort from the home side but little in the way of clear cut chances.

An entertaining game whereby Stur left themselves far too much to do following a poor first half display. In different circumstances they could have gained something from the game, but on the whole, Holt deserved the victory. Hopefully the Marshall can take this second half performance into a tricky away game at Swanage next week and pick up some much needed points.