Potters Bar II 6 Broxbourne V 0 (HT: 2-0)
Saturday 23rd January 2009

Team: S Randon (Capt), J Page (GK), T Bye, J Yates, N Tilley, P Brady, M Levy, F Waite, C Clements, D Ensor, A Stokes, A Latham

Goalscorers: A Latham (5, 59 & 67), C Clements (22), A Stokes (54), M Levy (66)

Umpire: Alan Field

At last the 2nd XI were back in action following all of the snow and then a concession last week by Royston, hoping to build on the great run of results before Christmas. There was an immediate problem when young goalkeeper Jordan Page turned up without the skipper realising that he did not have any kit! A quick trip to Radlett and back and the game was now running close to 15 minutes late!

Broxbourne started the more lively, and for the first 4 minutes Bar were playing in their own half. A break was finally achieved, a short corner won and after the first try was stopped by a boot the retaken short was fired home by the evergreen Andy Latham. The goal settled the early nerves and Bar began to take command with the centre half pairing of Nick Tilley and Jon Yates putting in solid tackles and Dave Ensor, Freddie Waite and Chris Clements causing problems down the wings.

On 22 minutes a free hit in from the right from Freddie Waite was played back to Spencer who had been allowed to run free by his marker and his hit into the D found the equally unmarked Chris Clements to tuck home with ease to double the score. Bar should really have gone in 3 up at half time – a penalty flick was rightly awarded on 30 minutes, whether it was for the deliberate trip on Andy Latham by the keeper or the foot that stopped the goal bound shot we are not clear. What was clear was that no one was stepping forward to take the flick until Spencer decided to nominate the least experienced players in the side, Michael Levy, for the task. Having discussed with the umpire how many steps he was allowed to take, his low shot was saved by the keeper!

This was nearly very costly as Broxbourne immediately broke away to almost create a very good chance. Soon afterwards Broxbourne won a short corner which was well saved by Jordan. Half time was safely reached at 2-0 and Spencer made it quite clear that the side needed to keep their shape, play some simple passes and to take control of a game that really could already have been out of sight.

The second half saw Bar in control with Broxbourne rarely finding their way out of their own half. Despite this, for a long time Bar were unable to turn their domination into goals with the Broxbourne keeper in fine form, including turning one Andy Latham effort on to the post. Finally however the pressure told on 54 minutes, as Dave Ensor made another foray down the right and his pass in front of goal was easily turned in by Andy Stokes.

The Broxbourne heads were now down and the last 15 minutes saw a flurry of goal mouth incidents and goals. On 59 minutes the ever lively Paul Brady won the ball, and with the Broxbourne players looking in vain towards the umpire for a foul, he calmly moved forward to pick out Andy Latham for another easy finish. There were then two goals in the space of barely 30 seconds around about the 67th minute mark. Michael Levy made up for his earlier penalty miss by capping another promising display with a fine finish from the edge of the D when the ball ran loose. Direct from the restart Andy Stokes won the ball and found Andy Latham to complete his hat trick.

A final score of 6-0 will do wonders for the goal difference for a side that have now won their last 6 matches.

by Anthony Levy