Broxbourne II 2 Potters Bar 4 (HT: 1-2)
Saturday 14th November 2009

Team: E Newbery (Capt), G Smith (GK), O Hughes, R Donoghue, B Graham, F Waite, E Whybrow, M Turpin, C Chittleborough, M Tomkins, M Edson, M Levy

Scorers: E Whybrow (3), M Tomkins (18 & 68) M Turpin (36)

Umpire: C Edwards

A clash of the top two sides in the table turned out to be an entertaining but nail biting affair, although with a bit more polish in front of goal it could easily have been a comfortable victory for a Bar team now 8 points clear at the top of the table, and seemingly with no team to fear in this division.

There was plenty of confusion before the start of the game as the skipper decided unilaterally that those who had not contacted him during the week were going to make their own way to Broxbourne. Luckily for those players meeting at the club at the time prescribed by said skipper, everyone either had played at Broxbourne before or had printed out directions. (Thanks to Owen for the advice to drive through the pub car park!).

There turned out to be no need to rush as the previous game was running over 20 minutes late meaning a quick sojourn to the bar to watch the start of the England v Argentina rugby international. The team then got to witness the final few minutes of the ladies match between Tunbridge Wells (long trip!) and Broxbourne and to witness at one short corner why an off field coach should really just keep quiet rather than confuse his team to all be in the wrong place!

The earlier confusion however wasn’t just restricted to the skipper. Freddie Waite and Michael Levy were presented with their first team socks while waiting for the previous game to finish. Freddie, assuming that the ‘L’ on the first sock he took out stood for ‘large’ put that on his right foot only to find the next sock had an ‘R’ on it. He did redeem himself later in the afternoon however - when fellow players were complaining about a hot tea being served on paper plates he pointed to having successfully ‘doubled up’!

At this point the match report has not even got on to describing the wintry conditions, with gale force winds blowing throughout the match together with the occasional heavy downpour. Thankfully the hedge bordering the pitch, as well as the dugouts, provided suitable shelter for the intrepid group of Bar supporters. Finally to the game itself….

Bar got off to a positive start and from one of their first opportunities took the lead. From the second of two short corners Mark Turpin looked to have missed the initial opportunity, but he found Ed Whybrow (resplendent in his bright pink laces) to fire home after just 3 minutes. Ed and Chris Chittleborough were generally marshalling things in midfield much in the same way as their late night efforts the night before playing Call of Duty – lucky this wasn’t an early start. Mark Turpin was also looking dangerous whenever the ball was played up to him but a common theme of his day was his general failure to either find the target or the killer touch.

The lead was extended on 18 minutes as Michael Levy found Chris Chittleborough on the edge of the D and his neat pass found Miles Tomkins in space to place the ball past the keeper. The 2 goal lead lasted less than 2 minutes however – Broxbourne won a short corner and a clever pass found a forward in space to make it 2-1. Soon after this came a very heavy downpour where Miles Edson took advantage of a break in play to leave the pitch without permission to shelter beneath the dugout!

The rest of the half was a bit scrappy with Broxbourne getting more into the game, but Bar having the better of the chances. This period of play included one run from Ed Whybrow where a succession of Broxbourne players tried to foul him, whilst being left in his wake – sadly there was no killer pass to end the run, to make Broxbourne pay for their failures.

The half time team talk, in the middle of the windswept goal mouth, required the skipper to make sure he was upwind so that he could be heard! He encouraged solidity in the passing, whilst at the same time being sure not to take too long in making a decision. The wingers were again encouraged to support the defensive effort. This week the lack of oranges did not have a detrimental impact, as almost immediately from the restart Ed Whybrow threaded a perfect pass through to Mark Turpin who made no mistake on this occasion in threading the ball past the keeper to make it 3-1.

Once again the two goal lead was relatively short lived – this time for 8 minutes. Broxbourne were awarded a short corner following a deliberate hit behind the goal line. The resulting shot took a crucial deflection off of the foot of Owen Hughes to beat keeper Geoff Smith.

The next passage of play seemed to take for ever for the Bar supporters. Broxbourne had plenty of possession, although often their best opportunities came from misplaced passes by the Bar defence! Geoff Smith was called upon to make a couple of important saves to keep Bar ahead. Meanwhile at the other end Bar had countless opportunities to make the game safe, with Mark Turpin always amongst things, and Michael Levy and Miles Tomkins both coming close to finishing good moves.

With 10 minutes left, Bar had a splendid opportunity to wrap things up. Another short corner was won and Ed Whybrow’s splendid effort was blocked on the line by a Broxbourne boot. A penalty flick was rightly awarded, only for Ed’s effort to be well saved by the keeper!

The clock continued to tick slowly although with Bar generally in control with Ben Graham making a number of telling interceptions and setting off the attacks. Yet another attack brought a deserved 4th goal, as with 2 minutes remaining Chris Chittleborough once again picked out Miles Tomkins to finally put the result beyond doubt.

There was still time for one more piece of drama. A final second short corner was won and up came birthday boy Ed Newbery to slot home from the left hand side of the D. Sadly he found that he was celebrating on his own, as Shag (and many of his own team) had seen that the ball had not quite left the D from the short and therefore the goal was disallowed. This would have been the icing on the cake but did not put a dampener on a great victory.

by Anthony Levy