Shefford & Sandy IV 0 - 2 Hertford V

Our first trip up into Bedfordshire for three years, it's nice to see S&S 4s back in the league again and they gave us a good, tough old struggle that was everything last week should have been. The result was about right for the flow of play, but we couldn't relax for a minute. The game was fairly physical, with the umpires having to step in a couple of times to protect the younger players, and tempers getting ragged after the break after a succession of dangerous balls (mostly aimed at Andy), but overall we saw a very good standard of hockey in a very positive spirit.

We had and early scare as Sandy's playmaker dribbled through the middle and homed in on goal, only for John to poach the ball off the end of his stick. After 20 minutes of even play with half chances at either end, Tor was rewarded for persistent harrassment of Sandy's veteran back four when he picked up a careless square pass and sprinted 40 yards unchallenged and struck firmly past the keeper. Luke and James drove some nice moves down the right and gave us out next clear chance as Chris got forward to a thumping cross and shot inches wide. Matt got a short corner strike into the net but was adjudged too high.

After the restart Sandy tried to batter their way through the middle and we had to soak up some sustained pressure and a string of short corners, Geoff having to save well and John clearing deftly off the line to keep us ahead. We found plenty of space on the break but failed to convert the openings, so it was a great relief when Matt finally crashed a trademark shot into the top of the net. The final quarter saw us playing some relaxed and confident hockey, finally making full use of the wings, with Luke, Rob Davies and Rian repeatedly combining down into the right corner, and James, Matt and Arjun passing freely around their D. Didn't manange a third goal, but showed we can play a high standard passing game when we want to.

No MtM this week, this was a proper team effort, building well on our improved second half performance last week. Defence needs to work a bit on drifting - we were often caught outnumbered on our right. And the usual mantra - we looked our best when we kept wide. Andy, Matt and I all found some good long balls through the middle, but that only works if the wide men pull the defenders out of the middle of the pitch.

Keep it going like that please.