Hertford V 1 - 4 Shefford & Sandy IV

A seriously frustrating result from a game in which we were always competitive and for lengthy periods even dominant. We went down early to a spectacular lofted reverse stick shot after 5 minutes, and despite some great attacking hockey and a string of fruitless short corners, we had to wait 40 minutes before Steve Bailes finally produced an equaliser - after a diligent search of the archives we are fairly confident that this was Steve's first league goal for at least 7 years. From there we really looked like we would press on and win, but instead we were mugged by a mishit short corner that bobbled over the line, and as time ran out and we poured players forward, two late breakaway goals completed a vey unlucky scoreline.

It wasn't one way traffic, S&S had plenty of the play with a quick short passing game out of midfield, but tended to lose patience one pass short of a clear chance and rarely got a shot on target. A short corner count of 12 - 4 tells its story, and as last week, we lost count of the saves we forced from their keeper. Overall, we played well right across the pitch, plenty of creative movement, an acceptable percentage of completed passes, and plenty of variety between long and short balls, and wide and down-the-middle approaches. As the season has gone by we have learnt to get round the back of experienced defences, now we need to work out getting round the keeper, as far too many of our chances went straight into his pads. As frustration mounted we got over-reliant on long balls which we never looked likely to get on the end of. We also need to work out some simple 'Plan B' short corner options.

Good to have Daryl Keogh back with us, in fact we had a much more veteran look about us that usual. I'm not awarding MotM this week, but Mention in Despatches for Rian Weston for his best performance for us so far.

Next week, lease all bring the same energy and passion, and a little extra dose of patience and ingenuity...

Finally, thanks to Teresa for a very tasty tea to console us all in the bar.