Mens 2nd XI Match Report
Letchworth v Potters Bar Men 2nd XI
30 October 2010 | by Anthony Levi
It was a case of déjà vu for the second team following their game away at Broxbourne 2 weeks ago. A late start away from home, against an experienced team, with a goalkeeper having a blinder for this level.
Of course one could argue that maybe the side were disrupted by the unavailability of Shag (acting his pants off as a dashing opening batsman in Potters Bar) or alternatively by the return of the skipper to a winning side? Or perhaps Andy Stokes and Michael Levy were overly burdened by their indulgences at Subway and Miracles respectively.
Bar opened the game brightly and it was not long before a clear pattern emerged with most of the possession and territorial advantage resting with the away side with Letchworth defending in both depth and numbers whilst continually looking to catch Bar on the break – the skipper observing early that Letchworth had set out their stall to park the bus. George Nye was looking much more at home in the middle of the field with Miles Edson dangerous down the right following his one week only excursion to the first team.
Despite this pressure there was little in the way of clear cut chances as too few balls made it into dangerous areas. On the break it was Letchworth who almost opened the scoring on 19 minutes with first Nishal Shah making a crucial block and then keeper Ryan Maidment making a splendid diving save. The only close effort for Bar in the first half came on 29 minutes when from a short corner Andy Stokes’ effort beat the keeper but was cleared away off the line by a defender.
A goalless first half and the skipper stressed the need to spread the play around and to make more telling passes into the D for the strikers to take advantage.
Once again it was Letchworth, despite the continued pattern of the game, who almost took the lead 2 minutes into the second half as a short corner effort was saved by Ryan and then the rebound came back off the post. This seemed to wake up the Bar side who now started to create a number of chances from a more direct approach but were time and again thwarted by either the number of defenders or by the keeper. A succession of short corners were won but could not be converted.
Typically after such a run of possession Letchworth broke away and scored on 53 minutes. Ryan once again made two excellent stops during the move but a mixture of the rebounds coming back out into play and Bar defenders not being there to clear the ball away gave a third chance which was duly taken.
Bar kept coming forward and finally got some reward on 60 minutes when Danny Becker’s shot from a shot corner was deflected into the goal by a defender – seemingly the only way Bar were going to beat the keeper. Bar now went looking for the winner and their cause was aided by Richard West finally running out of patience with a Letchworth defender, following repeated warnings, and issuing his first yellow card for many years. (Perhaps the Letchworth players were taking retaliation for Richard’s hat trick against them in 1968!).
Despite the numerical supremacy Bar became over confident and were once again caught out on the break. Letchworth won a short corner and scored from it on 65 minutes to secure the victory. The celebration of the Letchworth players at the end summed up their surprise at securing the victory – Bar need to work out how to break down this type of team if they are going to keep up the promotion push!
Final Score: Potters Bar 1 - 2 Letchworth
Goal Scorers: D Becker
Team: S Randon (Capt), R Maidment (GK), J Yates, N Shah, R Hughes, N Walton, M Levy, F Waite, G Nye, D Becker, M Edson, A Stokes, J McCormick
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