Potters Bar II 4 West Herts V 2 (HT: 2-0)
Saturday 6th February 2010

Team: S Randon (Capt), J Page (GK), T Bye, J Yates, R Hughes, E Ogbourne, P Brady, M Levy, F Waite, G Wickham, D Ensor, A Stokes, A Jones

Goalscorers: A Stokes (17, 31 & 66), F Waite (36)

Umpire: Sarah Withers

Hughes Breaks His Duck

After another false start following last week’s postponement due to snow, the 2nd XI were back in action at Dame Alice Owens, although once again there was confusion at the start. This time discussion ensued over the legality of the make up of the West Herts team – but with West Herts confirming they had agreed the position with the league and with both sides keen to play hockey the match got under way.

The opening skirmishes were rather end to end with both sides creating chances. Despite Bar generally dominating possession against 10 man West Herts, the opposition’s ‘senior’ players were creating problems and twice in the opening 15 minutes breaks were made through a sluggish Bar defence but fortunately Jordan Page was on hand to make two excellent saves at the feet of the onrushing forwards.

On 17 minutes Bar took the lead. From a short corner Jon Yates slipped the ball through to Andy Stokes who made no mistake. From there Bar took control of the half but without ever putting too many decent passing moves together, although with Dave Ensor regularly looking dangerous on the right hand side. Eventually the pressure told on 31 minutes with Andy Stokes making it 2 from close range after the ball ran loose in the D.

The skipper was not a happy man at half time – urging the midfield to take control and for the side as a whole to make the extra man count. His words seemed to have worked as after just 42 seconds of the second half Bar looked to have easily secured the match by going 3 ahead. Andy Stokes was once again involved with his pass finding Freddie Waite to neatly place it past the onrushing keeper. But…..

Within just a few minutes West Herts, against all odds had pulled the score back to 3-2. On 39 minutes a good interchange of passes and a nice finish brought it back to 3-1 and then just 4 minutes later a ball was hit in to the D from the right and was neatly finished off of Richard Hughes’ head! Soon afterwards Andy Stokes was issued a green card – he may have been right that Sarah’s decision was incorrect but Sarah was certainly correct in rebuking him for his dissent!

This setback certainly woke up the Bar side but they were unable to create any clear cut chances despite dominating possession and territory and with a number of passes flashing across the D without a forward in the correct place. This period also included a short corner that went straight past both of the players lined up to take the shot!

In the end it took until 4 minutes to go for the nerves to be settled, as Dave Ensor made another break down the right and his pass inside was put home by Andy Stokes to complete a well deserved hat trick and complete a final score of 4-2, to make it seven wins on the spin.

by Anthony Levy