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MATCH REPORT - October 16, 2004

OPPOSITION
VENUE
SURFACE

RESULT

GOAL SCORERS

West Herts 6
Away
Astro

W 7-2

Andy Latham (4), Owen Hughes, Paul Brady (2)

Potters Bar marches on with another win and consolidate their 2nd position in the table! The standard of hockey is getting better every week with some quality interplay breaking open the West Herts defence a number of times. It took a while for the first goal to come following an evenly matched first 10 minutes or so. However, Potters Bar then began to conrol the ball and exploited some sizeable midfield gaps before using their speed advantage to maneouvre around the West Herts defence. The pressure paid off and Andy Latham opened his account with the first of his four goals.

Andy Bye, Danny Becker and Paul Brady combined well in midfield, with skillful interplay, before releasing the ball forward to Latham and Liam Frame. With so much possession it was inevitable that Bar would score again as Liam Frame's sideline hit across the top of the "D" found Latham who scored his second. Bar then scored twice more in quick succession to effectively put the game out of West Herts' before half time. Whilst it was certainly not all one-way traffic, Cliff Hawkins did comment at half time that he'd only touched the ball once in the first half!

The second half began in much the same way as the first with West Herts competing for the ball and matching Bar attack for attack for the first 10 minutes. It was Potters Bar, however, who broke the deadlock and added three further goals - with Latham completing his hat-trick with a fourth goal to follow. Paul Brady from midfield made a useful contribution with a second goal of his own and Owen Hughes (who was variously playing right back, right midfield, central midfield and centre forward) also found the net to take the scoreline to 7-0 with 10 minutes remaining.

It was at this point that Potters Bar lost their firm grip on the game! Bar had a number of rotating players which, as the match wore on, made it difficult to maintain structure at the back and West Herts, who fought hard right to the end, capitalised scoring two goals and at least salvaged some pride.

In the end the convincing 7-2 victory maintained Potters Bar's 100% record and kept them second in the table on goal difference. It should, however, be noted that the four teams Bar have played are the four lowest sides in the division - with only two wins between them. Clearly there are tougher matches to come!


Team: Alan Field, Spencer Hunt, Cliff Hawkins, Chris Edwards, Dave Frame, Danny Becker, Chris Wood (Capt.), Paul Brady, Owen Hughes, Andy Bye, Toby Seaman, Liam Frame, Andy Latham