Hertford V 6 - 5 Saffron Walden VIII

One of the most entertaining games we have enjoyed so far, between two well matched sides, both looking sharper in attack than in defence and allowing plenty of space to play the ball as their respective midfields ran out of energy.

The lead changed four times before Hertford got their noses in front at 4 - 3 with nearly an hour gone, but there was still time for SW to equalise, go behind, then equalise again from a 68th minute penalty. Which just left enough time for Mark to send Tom Dyke racing away down the right wing to beat the keeper on the angle with almost the last touch of the match.

Tor gave us an early lead with his first senior goal, coolly touching past the advancing keeper after Tom and Mark had combined down the right. Incidentally, 'Tor' means 'goal' in German - is this significant? Lewis produced a similar finish from a right wing pull back, calmly holding back his shot before slipping it inside the post to bring us back to 2 - 2 at half time. We went behind again after the restart, but Andy Benson, who had already had a couple of short corner strikes well saved, cracked one in from open play for 3-3. Tor then added his second from a goalmouth scramble, before Lewis struck again for our 5th with another cool flip past the advancing keeper. With the game almost in the bag, we failed to clear a short corner and conceded a penalty. A draw would have been quite fair, but the icing on the cake was still to come as Tom chose the perfect moment for the first goal of his career.

Seven changes from last week, and a much younger defence with Rob Bristow back with us and Rob Davies joining from the youth program for an impressively confident debut. Dave Harding belied his senior status with some pacey runs into the opposition D. Despite last ditch tackles from John, some smart blocks from Nick and a goalline clearance from me, we couldn't quite keep a very lively SW front line under control and had to rely on outscoring them at the other end. Matt and Andy began to find their long balls from midfield, regularly picking out Stuart from long range, Mark played the short ball game sweetly down the right. Upfront, Lewis and Tom were regularly rewarded for keeping their width with good possession in space, and big gaps down the middle as they drew the defence apart. Stuart didn't make the scoresheet but was a constant handfull for the SW rearguard. Three goals came from pulling the ball back towards the penalty spot or the back of the D, rather than aiming for the keepers pads on the angle. Learn from that.

Hard to call a man of the match this week, but Tor, Dave, Lewis, Mark and Andy would all be shortlisted. But I will go for Tom. Contribution to our first goal (see above), for coming back from right wing to our own dead ball line and putting in a couple of vital tackles, for disciplined wide positioning, oh, and that little matter of the last minute winner.....