Unbeaten Run Continues

After dropping their first points of the season last week, Hertford returned to Balls Park looking to get back to winning ways.

With skipper Ian Dunnett absent, Jamie O'Sullivan took on captaincy duties, leading a side that welcomed back Oli de Roeck in defence and gave a debut to forward Greg Page, with the injured Stan Power and new father Ben van Rooyen, who celebrated the arrival of Henry on Saturday morning, both unavailability.

Hertford's high tempo game paid quick dividends, with Bishops Stortford unable to deal with the home side's fast start. With just two minutes on the clock, a Hertford attack down the left saw Darren Norman exchange passes with Alec Short, before Norman burst into the D and converted from a tight angle, angling a well-placed shot across the keeper and into the far corner.

The early strike jolted Stortford into life as they began to get a foothold in the game, though their possession rarely converted into genuine chances, with the Hertford back four and, when called upon, keeper Max Capaldi comfortably dealing with any Stortford pressure.

With Stortford increasingly frustrated at their inability to break through, Hertford were able to wrest back control of the game, reasserting their dominance with several slick passing moves slicing through the Stortford defence, one of which yielded the home side's second. Nick Downer played in Luke Kennedy down the right hand side who left his marker for dead as he drove to the baseline and pulled the ball pack for Greg Page to sweep home, marking his maiden first team appearance with a goal. For the remaining minutes before half time, Hertford appeared comfortable just to preserve the two-goal buffer, a fair reward for their efforts in the first period, until the break.

Determined to strike back, the visitors came out to attack from the start of the second period, installing a high press on Hertford's defensive restarts. The hosts, however, retained their composure, with O'Sullivan and centre back partner Mike Hawes comfortable and patient in possession, whilst good running from the midfield and forwards giving full backs Oli de Roeck and Elliot Barling good outlets to release the pressure effectively.

As Stortford tired and became more ragged, gaps opened up in the middle of the pitch and Hertford looked the more likely of the teams to exploit it and find the game's next goal. The spark for this Stags goal came from an unlikely source, as a barnstorming run out of defence from Hawes took him into the opposition D, where he laid the ball off to Page, who turned to find space in a crowded area and fired an exquisite reverse stick shot into the bottom left corner, to add his second and Hertford's third.

With Stortford still striving for what would now be little more of a consolation goal, Hertford rounded off a first-rate performance by adding a counter-attacking fourth. After O'Sullivan intercepted an ambitious through-ball, he skipped around an on-rushing Stortford attacker and released Al Short in midfield. With characteristic energy, even in the game's latter stages, Short drove into the top of the D, with no defenders between him and the keeper. With scarcely believable selflessness, he teed up Norman who rifled home to notch his second.

Hertford pulled down the shutters for the game's remaining minutes to preserve a first clean sheet of the season and the 4-0 result, thoroughly deserved win with this performance, and leaves the still unbeaten Stags second in the table on goal difference.