West Herts VII 3 - 1 Hertford VI

Despite the result, a great game of hockey pitching guts and experience against pace and stick skills. The short corner count (11 - 0) says it all, and Tom Smith's very welcome presence in goal did much to keep us in the game, but the back 5, led by Graham White at centre back after Steve's late withdrawal, cut down attack after attack, whilst Nick, Chris, Kash and DPJ regularly tested their defence with some neatly built moves. We held out for 25 minutes, but their two quick goals only seemed to energise us. A move down the right saw the ball ping loose around their D, Kash pounced in his trademark style to make it 4 in 4 games and 6 for the season. Just before the break West Herts somehow scrambled away another sequence of chances to keep their lead to half time.

In the second half we gradually ran out of breath and the opportunities up front got fewer and fewer. Aodhan found some good space but we struggled to get support up as the midfield, indeed everyone had to work harder and harder in defence. It was tough work, occasionally desperate, but we never lost focus. West Herts added one more, a fair reflection of the balance of pressure, but we can take pride in one of our best, and certainly our most committed performances to date. Graham White gets MotM, special mention to Andrew Smith not just for racing down the A405 to get Tom to the ground from his game with the 1s, but for determined and effective tackling when they were threatening to overrun us on the left.