Hertford VI 2 – 0 Bedford VI

With four of our squad in the 4s, we were happy to have Jason Moylan, Lanky and Chris Duncan available for the late shift at Simon Balle, as well as Tony Halliwell in goal with Andy away.

With some pace and control in midfield and Chris’s experience in the front line, and with Bedford’s mix of vets and juniors leaving us a bit of time and space, we all raised our game and once we had settled down at the back we generally had the game under control. Chris Duncan struck twice in the first half, and it could easily have been many more but for a stunning display from the Bedford keeper. Tony did have a few saves to make, but the defence was pretty solid (Rob coming into the back line to give us some younger legs) and we cleared into midfield much better than usual. Luke, Josh and Chris moved the ball freely and rapidly through space on the right, Richard, Will and Adam traded passes confidently on the left, we mixed dribbling and long and short passing, made good use of width and ran well off the ball. If the execution wasn’t always perfect, the ideas were right, and plenty of chances came, but no more goals.

We lost our way a bit after the break as the substitutions got more complicated, but we sorted out our marking again and for once the opposition tired before we did, so the result wasn’t really in doubt.

Two small gripes – too many crosses from the byline going straight at the keepers’ pads. Too much reliance on the reverse stick side when we have time to get strong.

We leap into 10th place in Div 9. The only way is up!