From villain to hero: Dzimba's header inspires Holyport's midweek revival

First photo Manuel Kingsley-Nyinah and second photo Kickie Dzimba. Photo credit: Jay Harvey @JPJHPhotography

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Kickie Dzimba went from villain to hero for Holyport this week as Lee Ovens and Dan Rapley’s side bounced back from Friday’s heavy 5-0 defeat at Hilltop by winning 2-0 away at Wokingham Town on Tuesday night.

Dzimba’s first half dismissal at Hilltop last week preceded a dreadful second half capitulation from the visitors as Hussein Mahdi crashed home his second of the night from the penalty spot to make it 2-0 before goals from Shuaib Ali (62'), Michael Panford (69') and Nadeer Kahssay (79') completely a thoroughly miserable evening for the visitors.

However, they responded in fine style with an unexpected victory on the road at Wokingham in midweek, where Dzimba’s brilliant header in the 72nd minute set them on the path to victory.

Manuel Kingsley-Nyinah’s equally emphatic penalty just five minutes later confirmed the points would be heading back with Port to Summerleaze Park and the result lifts the side to 13th in the table.

No one can deny it’s been an unpredictable and often underwhelming start to the season for Holyport under Ovens and Rapley, however, they’ll be buoyed by this third league win of the campaign and a second clean sheet in three matches - after the recent stalemate at home to Windsor & Eton.

Next up Port face a third away game on the spin when they travel to fifth placed Kidlington, a tough match-up on paper but Port appears to be improving with only one defeat in their last four matches.

Time to catch up on the goals that secured a good away win at Wokingham Town last night.@PilotPenUK

⚽️@kickie_dzimba
⚽️ Manuel Kingsley-Nyinah

pic.twitter.com/nhVYO2lTMy

— Holyport FC | Est 1897 (@HolyportFC) October 1, 2025

Jay Harvey spoke to Holyport’s goal scorers on Tuesday evening after the final whistle.

“It was a battle, everyone dug deep, and everyone won their individual battles, and we claimed three points,” said Manuel.

“We now just need to pull the performance from this game into the next one (at Kidlington). We need to keep positive, keep pushing and keep helping each other and we’ll get the three points.

Kickie added: “Game by game, our game management is becoming much better. Coming here is not an easy place to come and pick up three points, with the pitch and the conditions on a Tuesday night. But, after the two goals we sat back and defended our lead and came away with the three points.

“We need to use this as momentum and build from here. It’s still early in the season, we’re less than 10 games in. It’s a long old season and this group is a great bunch who are willing to learn, so week by week, hopefully we’ll improve and get the three points on Saturday.”

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At the top of the division, leaders Burnham and fourth placed Windsor & Eton both suffered unwelcome results at the weekend.

They went into Saturday’s league fixtures sitting first and second in the table, however, Burnham suffered an agonising 1-0 defeat at Amersham Town with the hosts’ winner coming in second half stoppage time.

The game looked to be headed for a goalless draw until Shane Johnson popped up with the winner for Amersham in the 92nd minute.

The result leaves Burnham top of the table by a point, but Broadfields United closed the gap to a point with their 2-1 home win over North Leigh and Wallingford & Crowmarsh rose to third after they defeated British Airways 2-0 at home.

After losing five of their last seven matches in all competitions, Mo and Omz Bakali’s Burnham will be hoping to get back to winning ways at home to Edgware & Kingsbury on Saturday. They then host Sandhurst Town in the second round of the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup on Wednesday, October 8 (7.45pm kick-off).

For the second league game in a row, Windsor & Eton played out a goalless draw, this time at home to Reading City.

The Royalists have been struggling for goals a little since the departure of prolific striker Pawel Kowalkowski, and the outcome could have been worse for Rob Webb’s side as Stefan Brown missed a second half penalty for City after Bakai Manneh handled the ball in the box.

Webb’s side sit fourth ahead of their next match at Milton United on Saturday.