Hertford VI 0 - 7 Harpenden IV

Today's match saw the league debut of Aaron Dutt. I hope he doesn't expect that all matches will end this way...

After scoring three goals in the first 10 minutes, Harpenden's largely youthful tails were up and our defence was kept under pressure throughout most of the first half. Our clearances, hit outs and general passing were frequently intercepted and their strategy of attacking en masse required us all to get back to support defence, which we did often, but not always.

The linch-pin of the opposition was a senior midfielder. We often tried to pass through him or too close to him, only for the ball to be captured and used in another counter-attack. The cycle repeated, making us tired and frustrated and more prone to error.

When we had possession, there were some very nice passages, passing up both wings (Rian and Chris/Tor pairing nicely on the left and Noah and DPJ/Aaron driving up on the right, and some super attacking and harrying by Luke, playing at centre-forward for the first time). Though we seldom looked settled we tried really hard, we just lacked the teeth to convert our efforts into scoring chances.

In spite of several short corners, Harpenden scored only one more goal in the first half. Their fourth goal was their best; struck from the edge of the circle (by possibly the smallest player on the pitch) rising to waist-height straight into the back of our net.

After the break we re-organised our formation to try to relieve the burden on the defence by moving Luke to right back and playing five across the midfield with a lone-ranging winger acting as target man.

Although we conceded three more goals in similar fashion to the first half, Noah made several driving runs forwards and we had two good opportunities to score from long-balls through to players in the circle. Chris Dean continued his knack of stopping otherwise guaranteed goals on the goal-line by blocking two shots (one ball in mid-air), and Luke proved very adaptable at right back by marking closely and pushing forward when play allowed.

Man of the match is Luke and gold star goes to Chris.

Many thanks to Tor and Teresa for the providing consolation teas.