Mens 1st XI Match Report
Potters Bar Men 1st XI v Welwyn Garden City
16 October 2010 | by Anthony Levy
A big day for Bar, with the opportunity at last to take on the first team of long time rivals WGC. A fairly big crowd were in attendance as well, helped by the cancellation of the 3s match, the late start scheduled for the 2s and an early meet time for the Ladies 2s.
Opening skirmishes however were somewhat messy as Bar kept losing possession and had to be alert in defence to snuff out the threat from the visitors. As usual however Bar looked dangerous when they moved quickly in attack and one such move on 18 minutes, following an excellent 1-2 with Mark Turpin, saw Dave Fennell away and clear only to be foiled by the keeper when he was looking to find a fellow onrushing forward. Soon afterwards Dave had a chance to make amends when the ball ran loose in the D but his effort went wide.
Bar gradually began to take more control of the game with Ed Whybrow prompting from midfield, and Miles Tompkins and Mark Turpin constant threats up front. A short corner on 29 minutes saw Ed’s effort come back off the post, but 4 minutes later he was not to be denied as from another short corner he skipped past the first defender before flicking the ball high past the keeper to make it 1-0 and a deserved lead to take into half time.
The half time team talk correctly pointed out that the side needed to become less concerned with umpiring decisions (which had begun to needlessly frustrate both sides towards the end of the first half) and to concentrate instead on playing their game and taking control of the match. The prompting seemed to work as for the next 20 minutes Bar played some spectacular hockey, whih should have secured all 3 points.
Almost immediately after the restart Mark Turpin was denied by the keeper but on 40 minutes WGC were unable to handle him – despite the defensive call to ‘hold him there’, Turps simply went by the defender, rounded the keeper, and shot low into the empty net to make it 2-0.
For the next 15 minutes Bar were completely dominant creating lots of chances – on 42 minutes Turps set up Miles Tomkins only to see his effort scrambled clear by the defender on the line; 5 minutes later Miles’ effort from a short corner was deflected on to the cross bar. Two further short corners almost brought goals with one seeing a double save following efforts from Turps and Miles and another with 15 minutes remaining saw Ed Whybrow once again denied by the post.
Crucially as it turned out WGC had managed to withstand the storm remaining just 2 goals behind but with plenty of energy left. Possibly the fairly heavy rain shower that suddenly arrived had something to do with it, but WGC suddenly began to take control of the match with a number of attacks and a succession of their own short corners. Geoff Smith was suddenly the busier of the keepers and despite managing to keep out a couple of goal bound efforts he had little chance on 62 minutes when a sweeping move was finished off to make it 2-1.
Still WGC kept pressing and Geoff was forced into an excellent save from a short corner with just 5 minutes remaining. The game however could and should have been secured with just 2 minutes remaining as Ed Whybrow was put clear – he coolly rounded the keeper and with the spectators already beginning to celebrate, he fired his shot…….wide of the post!
This was to prove pivotal as with almost the final action of the game Bar were unable to clear in the D and the ball found the net to give WGC a share of the spoils. Whilst Bar can probably feel hard done by in their failure to secure all 3 points, it proves that at this level all sides will keep going for the full 70 minutes and that it is vital to take your chances and put the game out of reach when the opportunities arise.
Final Score: Potters Bar 2 - 2 WGC
Goal Scorers: E Whybrow, M Turpin
Team: E Newbery (Capt), G Smith (GK), O Hughes, R Donoghue, B Graham, D Swanson, C Filbey, C Irish, E Whybrow, K Gananandan, M Tomkins, M Turpin, D Fennell
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