Keeping it Clean

At the start of the day there was some doubt that the match would go ahead given the wintry outlook, but the pitch thawed, providing a fast surface for the two sides to take advantage of.

Hertford only made one change from the previous week, as Elliot Barling missed his first game of the season, with Oliver de Roeck stepping in at right-back to take his league appearances for the first team into double figures.

The hosts started with purpose, moving the ball around with pace and venturing forwards to good effect. They won an early penalty corner when Alec Short was halted on the right side of the D. Bedford's net minder did well, making a double save to keep out the initial strike from Ben van Rooyen and a rebounded effort from Ian Dunnett, but the ball then fell kindly for Ciaran Begg, who took his time to drift across goal and flick neatly past the men on the line for his fifth goal of the season to give Hertford an early lead.

Hertford thought they had doubled their lead shortly afterwards from another penalty corner as the ball rifled into the net from a van Rooyen strike, but - after consulting - the umpires adjudged the initial shot had been too high.

Bedford came into the match for a period with good support play from midfield, but they couldn't force any clear chances to trouble Max Capaldi between the sticks.

The home side did manage to extend their advantage before half time. Good work down the right, again, involving Short and van Rooyen worked the ball to Luke Kennedy in the D, who, as usual, showed an audacious amount of skill and composure in waiting for the right opportunity, placing his shot-cum-pass to the back post where Archie Akers was on hand to make sure from less than a yard out to make it 2-0 at the break.

Given the scoreline, the visitors were always going to look to start the second half strongly, and they did so, holding possession much more regularly in Hertford's defensive third than the in the first half. Capaldi created some work for himself when he cleared an innocuous looking cross straight to a Bedford centre forward, but he quickly made up for the error, closing down the shooting angle and making an excellent point-blank save with his right glove to defelct the goal-bound shot around the post.

Hertford still had chances of their own. A good ball in from the sideline by Nick Downer found Dunnett at the top of the circle, whose reverse stick ball into the goalmouth somehow evaded two attacker's sticks and rebounded off the post.

The hosts then had a golden opportunity to put the game to bed. A threaded ball from midfield set Begg clear, but he hesitated on the ball and was intercepted by the sliding goalie when, to his left, Akers had acres and an open goal begging.

When the sides previously met in October their pacey winger had caused a lot of problems, but on this occasion Michael Branford had kept him quiet for almost the whole game. He did, however, look like he was going to have a goal-scoring opportunity when in the last five minutes he got up a head of steam into the Hertford 23, only to be cut-down by what can only be described as an utterly professional foul by Simon Halfacre, who earned himself a deserved yellow card.

The suspension led to a succession of penalty corners for Bedford, but they couldn't convert, leaving the hosts to hold on until the final whistle, securing their fifth clean sheet of the campaign.

Hertford remain second in division 3SW, level on points with leaders Berkhamsted, and six points clear of third, however that can all change as Hertford don't play this weekend, whereas the teams around them have winnable rearranged fixtures following the frosts of January.

Hertford return to action on February 25th with an early fixture away to eleventh-placed St. Albans.

Hertford: Max Capaldi; Oliver de Roeck, Simon Halfacre, Ben Tootell, Michael Branford; Ian Dunnett, Nick Downer, Alec Short; Luke Kennedy, Ciaran Begg, Ben van Rooyen. Subs: James Rollins, Archie Akers.