Russ and Renn use beanies to good effect

For the first time this season, the 2's had to wear away kit. This invariably caused a raucous in the changing room as the captain took his youth number, 14, without looking at the size of the shirt. When Ben Tootell arrived, he was shocked, disappointed, and surprised to see the rest of the team in smart away shirts, as he proclaimed that he made a special trip to Hitchin earlier in the day to buy an away shirt. In a bid to fit in with the team, he rummaged through the shirts to find one that was the right size. As they were all too small for him, it was down to me to find him a suitable replacement. After being asked what size my shirt was, I could not provide an answer, so I had to have a look: it was an XL, a size more suited to Tootell than the M's that were left in the Sainsburys Bag for Life. I swapped my childhood number for a less impressive number, but at least Tootell had a shirt that fitted him.

The weather was pretty miserable, and the rainbow and smiling sun on the team sheet did not influence the weather gods to make it any different. The location was also pretty miserable: a windswept school ground situated roughly 30 metres from the M1. Fortunately for us, and all passing motorists, Stan Power was not playing, as his special squariel (square ariel) that he had performed 2 weeks prior at Vauxhall might have caused problems for passing traffic. As for the other player who misdirected his ariel at Vauxhall, Damien resorted to hitting the ball whenever he could, which he did very well, spreading the play well.

The first half started off very well for Hertford, winning a short corner in the first minute. The flick from the captain hit the post and rebounded for a Hertford player (I can't remember everything!) to shoot, as a shot stopped illegally on the line resulted in a penalty stroke. Ben Tootell, in his well fitting shirt, was called upon, and went 'low like a pro' to put Hertford in the lead. Shortly after the restart, Hertford were again back on the attack, this time causing a goal mouth scramble. Hertford took roughly a million shots, with the keeper and defenders keeping the ball out. The shots kept coming but one rebound came to Graham, who I believe at the time had not shot. His shot was placed perfectly, leaving the keeper and defenders with no chance of getting it, as he lashed in from about 1 metre. 1 shot and 1 goal for him. Well done. From then on, Luton pulled themselves and the game became more even, though Hertford had by far the majority of the chances. 0-2 to the Mighty (Hertford) 2's.

The second half came as a bit of a shock to Hertford as Luton came out as much more invigorated team, pressing high and with lots of energy. This caught Hertford out as they had spent the first half more or less camped completely in their half when they didn't have the ball. They made a quick break up the right, beating Joe Mari for pace, and took a shot which Tom in goal saved with the underside of his kicker. A very good save, especially he had very little to do for the first half. However, Hertford were unable to keep the clean sheet, and shortly later a Luton player took a shot so powerful that when he topped it, it flew up past Tom's shoulder leaving him no hope unless he wanted to head it away. The thought of breaking their unbeaten run led to the team playing with the intensity of the first half, and as the Luton legs began to tire, Hertford grabbed one more, the captain assisting beanie-wearing Russ who mashed a reverse hit into the bottom right corner. Sometime during the second half, Luke Rawlinson pulled of an outrageous pick from an ariel that was going out of play (statistically most likely to be Damien but I can't remember exactly) with his stick well above his head, at full stretch. Nothing came from the resulting play but it was outrageous enough to warrant a mention. Howie also produced a moment a magicalness at left back, used some extreme skill to turn an attacker inside out, back the right way again, and back inside out before putting the ball on his foot to win the foul after 15 seconds of ruining the attackers self confidence. Had to be seen to be believed. The game finished 1-3 to Hertford.

The nominations for MoM and DoD were in limited numbers, with MoM being close between a few different players. However, DoD was a less contested:
DoD: Renn for being hungover, but ran his little socks and beanie off all game so not the most deserving DoD ever, but it should hopefully teach him a lesson that we have high standards regarding prematch preparation...