Mens 1st XI Match Report
Potters Bar Men 3rd XI v West Herts 6th XI
09 October 2010 | by Steve Walters
With two experienced players missing, half the team consisting of juniors and facing a West Herts team fresh from a 13-0 win, a tough afternoon at the DAO looked likely.
And with James Pearson taking advantage of the three’s new flexible playing policies and opting to bench from home, bar started the game with just 12 players.
The opening 10 minutes of the games were a little scrappy but Bar eventually settled down with Tim Bye steadying the ship in the holding midfield role. John Hobbs had clearly had his Weetabix and was playing excellent as ever in the ‘Hobbs’ position (the captain has given up trying to define John’s role on the pitch).
Bar eventually, settled down with great work from the youngsters; with Bradley giving the West Herts defence all sorts of problems on the left wing, James McCormick as composed and solid on the ball as ever, Oliver Pace and George McCormick (making his debut senior team game) both tenacious on the left and with George (psycho) Wickham ever menacing (on several levels) up front.
25 mins in and a short corner routine actually resulted in a goal with Tim Bye’s neat lay off brilliant struck by the Hobbs into the right hand corner of the goal. A West Herts defender toyed for a brief moment with the idea of clearing the ball off the line before deciding that the strike was far to good not to result in a goal. 1-0 Bar!
Bar saw out they rest of the half but lacked a little composure and some of the midfield were guilty of trying to beat as many players as possible rather than looking for the simple pass.
First half team talk a summary: have some oranges, PASS THE BALL MORE, where’s James?, PASS THE BALL MORE, great goal Hobbs, PASS THE BALL MORE, top work little George, PASS THE BALL MORE!
Second half and after the subtle hints at half time, Bar were passing the ball much more and looked a much stronger side for it. James Mc, Tim Bye and John Hobbs were looking very strong in the mid/ Hobbs zone, soaking up much of the pressure from any West Herts attack leaving Peter, Tom and Steve to pick off any players that broke through. Jordan was also relatively unoccupied in goal for most of the game ...apologies to the Page family we’ll try to knacker him our more next week.
After 10 mins into the second half Dave Ensor calmly slotted in from close range after a nice move from James Mc and Bradley Sayers on the left wing. Another 10 minutes and more Bar pressure saw Dave put away a third. Bar were now constantly looking to add more and saw some particularly nice moves on the left between Oliver Pace and George Mc, who clearly possesses the same composure on the ball of his older brother.
Bar could have got a fourth but something happened and they didn’t.
A West Herts break on goal 5 minutes from the end saw one of their players go one on one with Jordan, who did everything right coming out from the goal to close him down. Unfortunately the young keeper was judged to have done this a little too enthusiastically so a penalty flick was awarded. Despite reading it well and diving the right way Jordan was unable to keep out the well placed flick.
Bar saw out the remainder of the match trying to bring the goal difference back up to three but were thwarted by some good keeping.
Another 3 points and another set of great performances from the juniors . A long way to go but a continued promising start to the season.
C’mon the Bar!
Final Score: Potters Bar 3 - 1 West Herts
Goal Scorers: Dave Ensor (2), John Hobbs
Team: Jordan Page (GK), Steve Walters (Capt), Peter Simmons, Tom Standen, George McCormick, Oliver Pace, John Hobbs, Tim Bye, James McCormick, Bradley Sayers, Dave Ensor, George Wickham, James Pearson (benching from home)
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