Mens 1st XI Match Report
Potters Bar Mens 1st XI v Shefford and Sandy 1st XI
12 February 2011 | by Anthony Levy
On paper this looked like a straight forward home game against bottom of the table Shefford & Sandy, whom Bar had defeated away from home earlier in the season despite going in with only 10 players! On this occasion 14 on the team sheet was misleading as Ben Graham was a late withdrawal due to illness with other players either arriving late or having to leave early (the latter not helped by the late conclusion of the previous game!).
Bar opened up with plenty of confidence on the ball and plenty of possession and it was little surprise when they took the lead on 7 minutes. A short corner was played in by Ed Whybrow (no Johnny Wilkinson apparently!) for Jon Cuff to flick the ball over the keeper. Jon in fact was having plenty of influence on proceedings on his return to action and his pass to Mark Turpin nearly doubled the lead on 14 minutes – Mark’s effort just being scrambled off the goal line by the keeper.
Bar continued to dominate possession, generally able to quickly snuff out any attacks from Shefford – although on one occasion Owen Hughes’ persistent tackling was too much for the umpire who issued him a green card. Owen was later to comment that this was the first of many cards he expected to receive on this Valentine’s Day weekend! Bar put some gloss on the scoreline with 2 goals just before half time.
On 32 minutes Mark Turpin was fed for a run on goal and having taken the ball round the keeper he chose to bring the ball back inside, without tricking the keeper, maintained possession and then fired home. As time ran out in the half a short corner was allowed to be taken after the 35 minutes were up and Ed Whybrow made no mistake with his finish.
The half time team talk stressed the need to not assume the game was over and the side indeed started the second half with all guns blazing in a period when there could have been a hatful of goals. Within the first 5 minutes of the second half Jon Cuff was twice denied by the keeper and Miles Tomkins saw a splendid effort fly just wide of the post. On 41 minutes however the pressure finally told when another short corner saw a clever dummy and a fine finish by Miles Tomkins to make it 4-0.
As has been a habit this season, Bar then took their foot off the gas when comfortably in the lead against lesser opposition, and with the Shefford side maintaining their efforts they were soon rewarded with a goal on 50 minutes from what was at the time pretty well their first effort on target – in fact this was debatable, as the deflection off Rob Donoghue might have gone over the bar but Michael Levy’s effort to stop the ball ensured it ended in the goal!
Shefford almost created a real panic in the last 10 minutes. They pegged it back to 4-2 with a goal from a short corner on 62 minutes and then 2 minutes later, following a rare defensive error from Owen Hughes, only a fine save from Geoff Smith prevented a difficult last 6 minutes. As it was the tension was lifted just 2 minutes later when a long lofted ball found Andrew Foster-Yeow, whose initial effort was saved before he found the net from a tight angle to give the scoreline a more realistic look.
Final Score: Potters Bar 5 - 2 Shefford & Sandy
Goal Scorers: J Cuff (7), M Turpin (32), E Whybrow (35), M Tomkins (41), A Foster-Yeow (66)
Team: E Newbery (Capt), G Smith (GK), O Hughes, R Li, M Levy, R Donoghue, C Chittleborough, E Whybrow, A Foster-Yeow, J Cuff, C Irish, M Turpin, M Tomkins
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