Potters Bar 1st XI v St Albans Exiles
Saturday 28th November 2009

Potters Bar 3 St Albans Exiles 4 (HT: 3-2)

Team: E Newbery (Capt), G Smith (GK), O Hughes, V Patel, C Chittleborough, E Kulendra, E Whybrow, M Turpin, M Tomkins, M Edson, D Fennell, M Levy

Scorers: M Tomkins (8), M Turpin (21), C Chittleborough (33)

Umpire: J Yates

The last couple of performances have produced lacklustre displays in the second half when it really hasn’t mattered. However yet another second half dip in form this week brought about the first defeat of the season against a much better opposition in second placed St Albans Exiles.

Early skirmishes suggested that this would be a competitive game with plenty of skill being shown as well as determined challenges. An early move in the 4th minute broke open the Exiles defence but Miles Tomkins' mishit effort came back off the post. The deadlock was broken in the 8th minute from a splendid move – a hit in from the right was played back to Ed Newbery who threaded the ball through to Miles Edson on the right of the D, who in turn fired across a pass for Miles Tomkins to tuck away.

The Exiles immediately showed their ability when they put a player clean through on goal just two minutes later but fortunately Geoff Smith was on hand to foil the effort. The lead only lasted a further 6 minutes as Exiles won a short corner which was despatched with ease. Despite this setback Bar were playing the better hockey with Ed Whybrow and Mark Turpin looking dangerous and Elvin Kulendra looking more and more at home following his debut last week.

On 21 minutes Bar went back into the lead. Ed Whybrow fired the ball into the D, an Exiles defender lifted the ball towards the goal, and Mark Turpin charged in to see both himself and the ball nestled into the corner of the goal. Both sides continued to press for supremacy but with Bar still having the better of things. With 2 minutes remaining in the half Bar won a short corner and after Ed Whybrow’s initial effort came back off the post, with Miles Edson’s follow up saved, Chris Chittleborough was on hand to finish things off.

Perhaps had Bar taken a 3-1 lead into the interval things may have turned out very differently. However Exiles won their second short corner of the half and despite a save from Geoff Smith the rebound was put away just before the half time whistle blew. The half time team talk praised the efforts so far and stressed the need to be vigilant at the start of the second half as Exiles were bound to come out firing.

Unfortunately the second half performance simply failed to match the first with far too many errors being made which allowed a better opposition than had been faced in recent weeks to take control of the game, such that much of the second half was played in the Bar half. Despite this Bar held out for 25 minutes although were living dangerously with one effort being snuffed out just in time by Vishal Patel and a short corner on 50 minutes coming back off the post.

This is not to say that Bar did not create any chances. Twice in this period the forwards were sent away one on one against the keeper. On the first occasion Mark Turpin took just too long to size up the chance, allowing an Exiles defender the chance to make a great clearance. On the second occasion Miles Tomkins was unfortunate to see his effort go just wide of the post.

It was perhaps no surprise that the winning Exiles goals came from a mixture of defensive errors and short corners. On 60 minutes Ed Newbery’s weak pass was intercepted and one pass and shot later it was 3-3. Exiles then won a number of short corners in the final 10 minutes and from one of these with 5 minutes remaining, the shot was fired home. The score could have been worse but another short corner effort was ruled out as the shot was adjudged to have been too high.

The final whistle signalled the end of the 100% per cent record but perhaps recent performances meant that this had been coming. Nevertheless it took a resilient effort by Exiles to win the game and they were clearly the best opposition seen so far this season. No reason then to get too downhearted – just look at the 7 point lead in the league table.

by Anthony Levy