Mens 1st XI Match Report
Potters Bar Men 1st XI v Berkhampstead 1st XI
29 January 2011 | by Anthony Levy
After some difficult games in recent weeks, in theory Bar faced a much easier prospect at home to a side that were seen off by 7 goals to 1 earlier in the season. Despite a lacklustre start to the match, within 20 minutes it certainly looked like the game would be all over well before half time.
After 9 minutes, what turned out to be the move of the match brought the opening goal. Dave Fennell nipped in to win the ball just outside his own D - he quickly found a short pass for Ed Whybrow to immediately thread a long ball to set Mark Turpin clear, who unselfishly played the ball away from the keeper for Miles Tomkins to place into the empty goal. This goal settled the team down and confidence came from the comfort shown at the back by Ben Graham and the returning Stuart Mainwairing, with Ed Whybrow and Chris Chittleborough dominating the midfield.
It came as little surprise when the lead was doubled on 17 minutes. This time it was a scrappy affair with the ball somehow making its way through to Mark Turpin and his effort was not the best but it still managed to bobble in off the keeper’s stick for his 21st goal for the season. Bar continued to dominate, with an Ed Whybrow short corner being cleared away off the line and a further Miles Tomkins effort being pushed to one side by the keeper.
It therefore came as a surprise and completely against the run of play when Berkhamsted equalised with 2 well taken goals in the space of a minute. The first goal was neatly swept home following a move down the right and this was followed by a fine individual effort to mislead Geoff Smith and allow a shot into an empty goal. Given these setbacks the half time team talk was surprisingly subdued, although potentially that was due to the skipper still not feeling 100% after a night out with Richard Hughes! Bar were now down to a bare 11 players as Miles Tomkins had had to leave early and it was felt that the key was to remain patient but to keep the passing crisp.
The second half was very disappointing. Bar seemed unable to lift their game, with the critical through balls too often being easily snuffed out by the Berkhamsted defence, with very little being created. In fact it was the Bar goal that was the one that was most under threat - one effort amazingly failing to hit the target when the Berkhamsted player had the goal at his mercy.
Gradually Bar managed to make more headway down the wings with Andrew Foster-Yeow creating trouble down the left. In fact it was Andrew who had the first decent Bar chance of the half on 57 minutes when his effort went just wide following a much improved passage of play. Shortly afterwards Michael Levy’s ball into the D nearly brought a goal but Ed Whybrow was just unable to touch the ball before it went over the line after the keeper had nonchalantly left the ball alone.
In the end the game was decided by 2 short corners in the final 8 minutes. Berkhamsted won the first one which saw a splendid save from Geoff Smith to push the ball wide of the target. Four minutes later however Bar showed how it should be done. The short corner won by Mark Turpin was Bar’s first of the half and Ed Whybrow fired it home via the foot of the defender on the line. Ed celebrated wildly on his own whilst Mark Turpin spent most of the remaining 4 minutes seeing out time in the corner of the pitch, much to the annoyance of everyone (!) before the final whistle blew.
The old adage is that good teams still manage to win despite playing badly – hopefully that’s what the side can take away from the game, with the hope of an improved display next time.
Final Score: Potters Bar 3 - 2 Berkhampstead
Goal Scorers: M Tomkins, M Turpin, E Whybrow
Team: E Newbery (Capt), G Smith (GK), O Hughes, S Mainwairing, B Graham, C Chittleborough, E Whybrow, A Foster-Yeow, D Fennell, M Turpin, M Tomkins, M Levy
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