West Herts VI 2 - 1 Hertford VI 1

Our 4th defeat from 6, all by the odd goal, and all against the teams in the top 4 slots in Div 9, so at least we’re competitive.

We really can’t complain about this one. 11 short corners to none, we mustered all of two shots, we were outpaced over most of the pitch, but we scrapped like tigers for 70 minutes.

Defence was disorganised but tenacious, keeper Clive (man of the match) was constantly engaged, and we struggled to get the ball out cleanly past a West Herts midfield pressing right up the pitch (though we could have been a bit more inventive, as we made little use of Aodhan on the right). They made very few errors and gave us very little space. When we did get behind their midfield (usually Matt’s long balls) Ian did manage shake their defence a few times, and DPJ, Aodhan and the two Adams played some effective combinations.

We were happy to get to half time only 1 – 0 down, and after the break had a purple patch that culminated in a brilliant goal. Five players were involved in the build up and Adam Sutherland looked to have run out of options running wide in their D, but found one last turn and slapped home on the reverse side.

West Herts stepped up a gear and, noting a tiring defence and a knee injury to Tony, began to dribble into our D, and the short corner count mounted rapidly. They were ahead again with 15 to go, and didn’t really let us back into it after that, but we stuck to the task and soaked up their pressure without conceding again.

Despite the result, a very good effort all round, nobody is going to push us over if we continue to show that level of commitment.