Mens 2nd XI Match Report
Potters Bar Men 2nd XI V Broxbourne
16 October 2010 | by Anthony Levy
A late start at Broxbourne but the team were there in plenty of time thanks to the use of cars rather than the horse and carts that still would have made it in time from the scheduled meet time. The skipper was keen to get the side going and to also get used to the slow pitch conditions with plenty of warm up routines. However this and the pre match team talk failed to wake the team from their slumber as a lacklustre opening and poor passing allowed Broxbourne the opportunity to get into the game with crisper passing than was being shown by the Bar side.
It was really no surprise therefore when Broxbourne took the lead on 18 minutes having gone close on a number of previous occasions. This setback seemed to at least get Bar going a bit more and thanks to plenty of promptings from the likes of Richard Hughes and Freddie Waite the side gradually started to take more control of the game and to create some chances. Andrew Jones was unlucky on 25 minutes to see a double effort first saved by the keeper and then cleared off the line by a defender. A few minutes later Jon Yates was denied by a good save from a short corner effort.
Half time came and the skipper was surprisingly cool despite his annoyance with the first half performance. A change in formation was called for plus concentrating on short crisp passing rather than going for the big pass.
In the second half Bar really showed up to play, and had they converted some of their early chances (or for once had not come up against a goalkeeper playing way above his level) this could easily have ended up in another comfortable victory. As it was Broxbourne set out a completely defensive formation and challenged Bar to get through them.
Throughout the half Andy Stokes was consistently dangerous in and around the D and Michael Levy was continually prompting from the midfield down the left hand side. Callum Atkins and Freddie Waite were also constant threats. However despite creating a number of chances and winning a succession of short corners Bar were unable to convert their chances.
On 43 minutes a nicely worked short corner saw Andy’s effort go wide with the skipper failing to make contact at the far post as he had done the previous week. Within 5 minutes both Andy and Freddie had been denied by good saves. Another short corner on 52 minutes saw Michael’s goal bound shot cleared away by the defender on the line. The rest of the half continued in the same manner with even the Borxbourne subs commenting that they had rarely seen such a dominating 0-1 performance!
On the rare occasions when Broxbourne did break out of defence they usually found Nishil Shah standing firm. One break late on seemed to find no Bar defender at home, only to see Shag sweep across to cut out the danger! The skipper abandoned a defender to try to at least force a draw but it was not to be as the organised defence and MOTM goalkeeper held firm to secure a surprising defeat for table topping Bar.
At the end the skipper, whilst obviously disappointed with the result, was unable to be annoyed with what was (barring beating the goalkeeper) an excellent second half display which on another day would have secured a comfortable victory.
Final Score: Potters Bar 0 - 1 Broxbourne
Goal Scorers:
Team: S Randon (Capt), J Page (GK), J Yates, N Shah, R Hughes, M Levy, F Waite, C Atkins, G Nye, A Jones, A Stokes, J McCormick, C Edwards
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