no reward for a brave defensive slog

Despite missing several key regulars, we put up a brave fight against 2nd place Harpenden. With a short corner balance about 8 - 1 against us, and shots on target at least as bad, we can't complain about the result, but after keeping them out for 55 minutes and giving them plenty to think about in midfield and upfront, it was still galling to go down to one defensive slip. Our very veteran back 4 did what many sides have done to us, keeping deep and always having one more player in the way. Harpenden always had to work hard to get clean shots in, and there were plenty of us around to clear Geoff's pads, though we still needed some pretty sharp reflex saves from him from close range. In return St Albans fell into the trap that has often cost us opportunities, with many shots thumping safely into Geoff's pads on the near post.

With Harpenden regularly throwing eight men forward, we were often facing overlaps at the back, but our midfield stepped up to a whole new level of defensive commitment, and wave after wave of pressure was turned back. With only limited support from the back 4, we couldn't build sustained pressure, but we were sharp on the break, mixing wide and direct attack and long and short ball approaches, and kept them on their toes at their end. We saw some very neat and patient combinations around their D. Champagne moment (and our nearest to a goal) was a four man move right to left across the back of their D as Chris Duncan, Chris Dean and finally Tor drew the defence and kept threading the ball across until Rian had space to flick the ball an inch wide of the post.

Excellent all round effort - no points and no goals, but a triumph of character and determination - the side is continuing to mature and gel together, and we're still enjoying it!