Rickmansworth IV 0 - 2 Hertford V

An impressive win, which would have been much more convincing without the heroic performance of the Ricky keeper (who looked suspiciously like the one who had been keeping for their first team the game before ours). Some odd statistics in the game, the short corner count was 6 - 1 against us but shots on target went our way around 12 - 1. It was a triumph for the defence, soaking up Ricky's only phase of sustained pressure in the first quarter, and dealing comfortably with their breakaway attacks after that. Oddly, they often played three men right up, leaving a huge midfield space which Chris and Andy controlled with ease. Mark drove us forward through right midfield time after time, with our increasingly familiar guest Luke Godwin putting in a lively and inventive shift at the top of the diamond. Tor's and Rian's delicate stickwork at the front was complemented by Dave Harding's strength and experience, and for once we regularly maintained control of the ball around and into the opposition D, and got plenty of shots in.

Dave Harding put us ahead on 20 minutes, Chris added a second on the half hour. There could easily have been more. As the game went on we did lose a bit of our subtlety, perhaps from frustration as the third goal didn't come, but for most of the time we passed intelligently, moved it around at the back, varied the width, used the late passes wide into the corners and pulled the ball back when crossing. If the defence was unobtrusive, it was because we played well, and Man of the Match goes to Rob at right back for an almost flawless display of marking, tackling and distribution.

On that form, we can give anyone in the division a hard game. Keep it up.