Victory against last years Champions

It certainly wasn't going to be an easy game of any sort however Hertford managed to ground out a victory in a close game against last years Summer League winners Bishops Stortford. Hertford knew going into the game that they had every chance of getting something from the game but knew they would have to work extremely hard to get there.

The game begun at the same fast pace as last week and Hertford soon took the lead through Ciaran Begg before Ben Van Rooyen added a second from a beautiful short corner strike. Despite the 2 goal advantage, Hertford knew their work was far from complete and thanks to some superb defending from the new centre back trio of Oliver De Roeck and Gavin Elliott, the scoreline remained the same for most of the first half. Stortford did eventually make the break through when a crash ball was fired in for a tap in at the far post. Game on.

The second half saw Hertford start much more cautiously and had to absorb some heavy pressure from Stortford. This soon worked in Hertford advantage as Stortford began to pile men forward and saw Hertford catch them on the counter to grab their third and open up the goal cushion again. Several chance were created at both ends throughout the second half and it was Stortford who got the next goal to bring the game to 3-2 and begin to make the Hertford Players hands sweat.

Thankfully, Summer League debutant Ben Van Rooyen was on hand to open up gap again and ease the pressure off for Hertford as the game moved into the final quarter. The final 10 minutes were tense as Stortford again piled on the pressure and finally scored their third to make the final 5 minutes very tense indeed. Despite the scoreline, Hertford held their nerve to see out the game and grab another 3 points to put them into a good position moving into next weeks game against Whippersnappers

Man of the Match: Gavin Elliott