Bishops Stortford 3rd XI vs Potters Bar 1st XI
Saturday 20th February 2010

1st XI Squad: Geoff Smith, Ed Newbery (c) Owen Hughes, Ben Graham, Rob Donoghue, Ed Whybrow, Chris Chittleborough, Miles Edson, Charlie Irish, Mark Turpin, Miles Tomkins, Elvin Kulendra, Tony Sayers.

Potters Bar 1st XI started the game three points clear of nearest rivals St Albans Exiles and so had to maintain their advantage against 5th placed Bishops Stortford. Early skirmishes proved that this would be no easy feat. In a highly open first 10 minutes possession changed hands rapidly but it was Stortford that gained the early advantage. Having won a short corner Rob Donoghue managed to deflect a Stortford shot off the line until the ball returned into the danger area for Stortford to slip the ball across goal into the bottom left-hand corner.

Bar reacted straight away putting Stortford onto the back foot creating numerous chances without quite finding the cutting edge. Eventually Bar was able to take advantage of their chances as a poor defensive challenge lead to short corner for Potters Bar. After a few ricochets around the D the ball finally landed to Tony Sayers who played the ball under his arm to Miles Tomkins who fired the ball emphatically past the Stortford ‘keeper into the roof of the net for the equaliser.

Unfortunately this joy was short-lived as Stortford made inroads straight from the restart and despites Bar’s best efforts they made the game 2-1 to Stortford. Not long after, Ed Whybrow picked the ball up in central midfield, beat a player, and released the ball into the ‘D’ to Tomkins who was bearing down on the Stortford ‘keeper. He swiftly switched the ball across to his reverse side and played the ball square, parallel to the goal line for Mark Turpin to score his 22nd goal of the campaign with a simple tap in which made the game 2-a-piece.

With half time approaching Bar really put their foot on the gas and pressed Stortford’s defensive line to their limit. With numerous shots being fired in on goal Stortford stood firm until finally a ball struck a Stortford defender on the line. The umpires conferred but had clearly not seen the infringement until the Stortford defender very kindly explained what had occurred. Bizarrely a short corner was given in Bar’s favour which Bar took full advantage of. Another effort from Chris Chittleborough was again cleared of the line by a Stortford limb. This time the decision was correct and a penalty stroke was awarded. Ed Whybrow stepped up and attempted to put the ball low to the ‘keeper’s right but he scrambled across his line to get a foot to the ball a push it wide.

A highly eventful half meant that the game was finely balanced and it was clear in the half time team talk that the next goal would be vital and that Bar was going to have to get a result the hard way.

Bar started the second half in a far more positive fashion pressing hard on and off the ball with Sayers, Tomkins and Turpin all defending hard from the front. This pressure told as Chittleborough won the ball in midfield and laid it off to Turpin who neatly rolled his defender and fired the ball into the bottom left hand corner to put Bar 3-2 to ahead.

Bar’s fitness advantage started to really take its toll as Stortford’s more influential players began to tire. Bar, however, were reduced to 10 men for a short period as Whybrow was shown a yellow for not retreating 5 yards from an infringement. This did not knock Bar of their stride as Miles Edson received the ball on the right hand side and after a powerful run found Chittleborough in a central position inside the attacking 25. Chittleborough then proceeded to switch the play to Elvin Kulendra.

Kulendra then played a pinpoint pass to Turpin inside the attacking ‘D’ who then rounded two defenders and the keeper and finally lifted the ball over a defender’s stick to round off a superbly taken goal. This gave Bar a comfortable two goal advantage that gave the midfield license to play some highly attractive hockey.

The continued hard work of Bar’s forward line led to Sayers stealing the ball off the Stortford defensive line as they attempted to play the ball around the back. Sayers then switched ball to his reverse stick and drilled the ball into the bottom left-hand corner to make the score 5-2 to Potters Bar.

Bar nearly had a late scare as a Stortford attacker broke free of Bar’s defensive line with the support of a teammate on the left wing. Bearing down on goal it was up to last defender Ed Newbery who did just enough to put the forward off as Newbery deflected the ball against the attacker’s stick off the end of the pitch.

5-2 did not flatter the Potters Bar 1st XI as they dominated a game against an extremely capable Bishops Stortford XI. This was a crucial 3 points, as St Albans Exiles also won away at Letchworth, it was important for Bar to maintain their 3 point lead. Next week Bar face 3rd placed Broxbourne 2s at Dame Alice Owen’s in a match that is just as or even more important than the fixture this week.

by Ed Newbery