Shefford & Sandy 3s 1-5 Hertford 5s

This weekend saw the 5s travel up to Sandy to face a familiar opposition, with the promise of the best teas in the east region motivating a rather ‘tender’ squad to get through the game. We lined up in a mostly familiar set up, with Tim returning to the squad to provide additional firepower, whilst ‘utility man’ Chris slotting in seamlessly at right back.
After a baffling decision from S&S to start playing into the setting Sun having won the toss, Hertford started on the front foot and it stayed that way for the majority of the game. Last week it took 9 minutes, this week 8 minutes, for Darren to get off the mark. Some nice passing through the midfield found Jasper around the D who slotted across to our no. 9 to fire home. 6 minutes later Darren doubled his tally, after a wonderfully weighted through ball from Tim who had spotted Darren making the diagonal run. 2-0 up at half time, the message from the skipper was to slow things down and keep it simple.
For once, everyone listened! Tim then got one for himself on the 40 minute mark, after Steve fired into the D and it bounced around several players on both sides and their keeper made a double save, before Ed passed it round the keeper for Tim to bury it onto the backboard. Darren completed his hat trick 3 minutes later with a solo effort, glancing the ball round a defender before relentlessly chasing it down and beating several more men before finishing from a tight angle. S&S put us under pressure for the next 10 minutes and our back 4 had to be alert to their attacking trio supported by the Mitchell brothers in midfield, but through composed defending and excellent communication everything was snuffed out, with help from some smart saves and clearances from Matt. Our 5th goal came from a short corner, which we regularly convert; Josh injected to Darren at the top of the D, and it took all of his willpower to slip it right to Chris rather than take the initial shot. Chris didn’t need a second invite to finish with aplomb.
Unfortunately the clean sheet wasn’t to be, with a terrible cross from their left winger somehow making it through 6 different players before miraculously finding a free man at the far post. Despite that annoying end, it was yet another sublime team performance that we can be proud of. Honourable mentions go to Sean & Chris for superb games at fullback, but it’s hard to ignore a hat trick + assist in one game (plus he’ll throw a tantrum if I keep omitting him) so MoM goes to Darren.
Next week sees us face Blueharts 6s at our second home pitch, Simon Balle. A win will further cement our second place position so bring it on!
Josh