Ladies 1's vs West Herts

Hertford ladies 1's struggled with another disappointing defeat to local rivals West Herts on a very windy Saturday afternoon in what can only be described as a gruelling and very un-ladylike battle. The hosts were at full strength with the exception of midfielder Clare Hawes and won the toss for first push back in the hope of claiming an early advantage playing a slighter more attacking formation of 4-3-3. Hertford looked strong from the off with some excellent ball play in the midfield and using the three attacking players to draw the West Herts defence high and wide creating plenty of space within the D. Hertford saw a number of oppurtunities in the first half with some fabulous interceptions from defender Hannah Brown on the left wing but played the ball low and central on too many occasions towards the goal which the West Herts keeper made light work of. A couple of short corners were won by Hertford but the first sweep by midfield Maddy Twyning was blocked and cleared and the second, a cracking shot to the right corner by forward Sian Foster, was saved off the line by the post defender. A series of stick tackles by a West Herts midfielder on Sophie Rawlinson saw her sinbinned with a green card for two minutes but despite efforts by Hertford to use this to their advantage West Herts played possession hockey and kept Hertford at bay and it was still 0-0 when the half time whistle went. Despite some gritty play from the Hertford side they seemed to spend a considerable amount of time defending their own goal in the second half. West Herts won a short corner which the injector double tapped on off the back line and much to Hertfords frustration it went unseen by the umpires. Therefore, instead of giving a 16 yard hit Hertford were penalised for breaking early and another short corner was awarded which West Herts took the lead from. Man of the match Catryn Langley made some exceptional clearances down the left and right side and found herself in the attacking half on several occasions but a raised ball to the cheekbone saw her retire to the bench with about 10 minutes left to play. Hertford continued to battle with grace and dignity right to the very end and in what was a most unsightly game to both watch and play but frustratingly left the pitch defeated for a another week.