Mens 2nd XI Match Report
Potters Bar Men's 2nd XI v West Herts 5th XI
26 March 2011 | by Anthony Levy
The final game of the season and with promotion assured (and with no chance any longer of winning the title) it was an interesting collection of players that lined up for the end of season photo. Newly married Andy Stokes was back from South Africa, Richard Hughes had decided to play a full game this week and the rest of the side had a youthful look with the inclusion of George Wickham, Simeon Nicholls and Harry Bonnell. Added to which the side was completed by emergency goalkeeper Tom Standen.
Early signs were good however as the opening minutes saw plenty of good passing moves from Bar and but for that old problem of the opposition not having their usual goalkeeper (!) the side could easily have gone into half times a number of goals to the good. Within the opening 3 minutes the keeper had pulled off two good saves from Miles Edson and Andy Stokes following a short corner, and from the next attack Freddie Waite made an excellent run around the edge of the D only to see his well struck shot deflect wide off the post.
Midway through the half Andy Stokes was again denied as his back stick effort was heading into the goal and not long before half time the keeper again pulled off a double save this time to deny Miles Edson and Freddie Waite. Not that it was all one way traffic as when West Herts made some occasional breaks they did so with speed through the middle and a couple of times their forwards failed to test out Tom Standen with shots that ended up going wide, when the target ought to have been hit.
The half time team talk centred around the need to stop the West Herts attacks up the middle, although perhaps the most important aspect was the need for Paul Brady to leave early. Although in theory Bar entered the second half playing only one up front with a shored up midfield, the reality was that with few of those assigned midfield positions used to the position, they all seemed to drift up front leaving massive gaps that in due course West Herts were able to exploit. Maybe in hindsight, the Richard Hughes mini blackboard with a proposed 9 0 1 formation might have worked out better!
Bar had the best opportunity to start the second half however as another series of save on 41 minutes saw a short corner saved, the Harry Bonnell follow up scrambled away, and then from the continuation of the attack Jon Yates saw his effort saved.
The promised missing midfield then came into its own on 44 minutes leading to 3 West Herts goals in the space of just 6 minutes. Whilst all of the goals were well taken, the Bar midfield went missing on each occasion, leaving a threadbare defence to try to deal with too many attackers. The skipper was disappointed that the 3rd goal was not ruled out for a stick tackle infringement, but the lack of a whistle did nothing to change the final result. In fact it could have been worse just 3 minutes later had Tom Standen made a fine save following yet another swift attack.
Bar kept going and could have pulled one back with 10 minutes remaining – this time Andy Stokes thread the ball through to Jon Yates but yet again he was denied by the keeper. When the final whistle came everyone could console themselves that a bad day at the office was alright when promotion had long since been achieved – not only that but there was plenty of chilli available from the Hughes kitchen!
Final Score: Potters Bar 0 - 3 West Herts
Goal Scorers: N/A
Team: S Randon (Capt), T Standen (GK), J Yates, N Shah, R Hughes, P Brady, F Waite, A Stokes, M Edson, S Nichols, J McCormick, G Wickham, H Bonnell
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