Mens 2nd XI Match Report
Potters Bar Men 2nd XI v Royston 3rd XI
09 October 2010 | by Anthony Levy
With all the vets back in action the 2s lined up with a surfeit of players, with 15 selected plus another one in Dan Swanson who felt like joining in with the fun! Your match reporter cannot comment in any detail on the early skirmishes as the umpires decided to start the match on time (!) but can confirm based on what he saw from his walk from the car park that Bar started the match as they meant to continue by dominating both possession and territory.
Just 5 minutes were gone when Freddie Waite put Bar in front when he scored from close range after Andy Stokes had had his effort saved. Shortly afterwards George Nye’s excellent cross field pass from the left found Miles Edson inside the D, whose effort was well saved by the Royston goal keeper who turned out to be the busiest and best player on view.
Andy Stokes was a constant threat all match with his pace and skill and it was no surprise when he doubled the lead on 17 minutes. The goal came from a rare period of Royston pressure which was broken up inside the Bar D – Michael Levy played a quick ball to put Andy away and he outpaced the defence before slipping the ball past the keeper.
The only surprise during the rest of the half was how Bar failed to increase their lead with plenty of prompting coming from midfield playmakers Callum Atkins and Danny Becker. Miles Edson shot wide when he might have been better off slipping the ball to Andy Stokes, whilst the keeper kept out efforts from Andy from a short corner on 27 minutes and just before half time denied George Nye.
On the rare occasions when Royston pressed forward, there was a lack of pace in their attacks, which meant that Jon Yates and Nishil Shah were easily able to snuff out any dangerous situations.
Once again the half time team talk was without fireworks as the skipper’s only disappointment was the failure to have scored more goals. He encouraged use of the wings as well as sitting on the goalkeeper to pick up any rebounds.
The second half continued in the same manner as the first and Bar quickly went 3 up from a nicely worked short corner – Spencer played the ball to Andy Stokes who pushed the ball through to Miles Edson for another pass back to Spencer who simply couldn’t miss from inside a yard.
From here however the need to ensure good use of the 16 players meant that it became a disjointed effort with players trying too hard to make good use of their time on the pitch rather than ensuring that the side stuck to the system. As a result despite continuing to control the game many of the efforts became too direct which played into the hands of the defence. Nevertheless the Royston keeper was still kept busy making good saves from Andy Stokes and John Yates, with Andy also shooting wide from 5 yards. Meanwhile in the Bar goal Ryan Maidment was a virtual spectator with Royston failing to get a shot on target.
In the final minute the score was given a slightly more realistic look when Andy Stokes tapped the ball in from less than a yard after good work from Freddie Waite in slipping the ball away from the diving keeper. A generally satisfying win, which on another day (and against a lesser keeper) could easily have seen a double figure score.
Final Score: Potters Bar 2nd XI v Royston 3rd XI
Goal Scorers: F Waite, A Stokes (2), S Randon
Team: S Randon (Capt), R Maidment (GK), J Yates, N Shah, R Hughes, M Levy, F Waite, M Edson, D Becker, P Brady, C Atkins, G Nye, A Jones, D Swanson, A Stokes, C Edwards
« Back to Match Reports