OPPOSITION	Luton Town 3rd XI
VENUE	Home
DATE	29 September 2007
RESULT	Won 7-1

A hat-trick from Ed Newberry and two goals a-piece from Mark Turpin and Andy Latham gave Potters Bar an emphatic first-day of the season victory over Luton Town 3rd XI, who started the game with only 7 players.

The game started in farcical circumstances as the Luton Town team failed to arrive in time for the 1.30pm start. When their players did start arriving, citing traffic on the M1 as the cause of their delay, the umpires decided to get the match underway 20 minutes late. But with Luton Town fielding only 7 outfield players and no goalkeeper, they did well to play keep-ball for the first 2 minutes. As Potters Bar gained possession, the rush was on to score before the other Luton players arrived. This lead to some hurried and error-strewn play but once Bar had settled, they scored via a run and cross from right-winger Chris Wood giving a simple tap-in for striker Andy Latham. With no goalkeeper to beat, Latham could hardly miss.

The final Luton Town arrivals then took to the field and the match became even...for a while. With a couple of skillful players in midfield, Luton forged up the pitch a number of times, although the Bar defense was able to hold out. Potters Bar's second goal came from Mark Turpin, one of a number of recruitments for the club over the summer. Following a burst down the left wing from the rapid Andy Stokes, Turpin received the ball and calmly slid it under the Luton goalkeeper from the top of the D, with Ed Newbery possibly getting a final touch but generously giving the goal to Turpin.

Bar's third goal towards the end of the half was a touch of class. Some good work from Turpin again as he dribbled towards the top of the D and towards Andy Latham. Rather than continue his dribble, Turpin left the ball to Latham whose spectacular shot into the roof of the net typified the day.

Luton Town came back strongly and won a short corner. This was worked well with the ball passed to an unmarked player on the right of the D who shot low into the goal.

Bar were expecting Luton to come out strongly in the second half, and try to eat into Bar's 3-1 lead early on. However, there was no real pressure on the Bar goal and 10 minutes into the second half Bar struck a fourth. Captain Paul Brady, complaining later that he was lacking fitness in the match, shot from the edge of the D, beating the goalkeeper, but not the defender's foot on the line. The umpire had no hesitation in awarding a penalty flick for this infringement which Ed Newbery converted well.

Mark Turpin capped a good performance soon afterwards, with a goalscoring run all the way from the half-way line, including a cheeky one-two off a defender's foot and a cool finish.

Further into the second half, Newbery grabbed his second of the game. Then, from a short corner, Turpin's shot also hit a defender's foot as it headed towards goal. Ed Newbery again scored from the flick, putting it to the goalkeeper's right as he had with the first flick, completing his hat-trick.

The general feeling was this was a fine performance from Potters Bar, who are still getting to know one another with 5 players in the line-up who had joined the club over the summer.

Team:

Jonny Weller, Rob Donoghue, Jon Yates, Chris Wood, Mark Turpin, Paul Brady,
Ed Newbery, Owen Hughes, Tim Bye, Andy Latham, Andy Stokes, David Ensor

Umpire: Alan Field

Rob Donoghue	Chris Wood	Goal Keeper arrives	Triangles

Goal scorers:

Andy Latham	Mark Turpin	Andy Latham	Ed Newbery	Mark Turpin	Ed Newbery	Ed Newbery