Mens 3rd XI Match Report
Potters Bar Mens 3rd XI v Bedford Town 5th XI
08 January 2011 | by Anthony Levy
By far the biggest challenge of the day (borne out by the fact that the team sheet only came out on Friday morning) was the skipper’s efforts to try to get an XI out to play. In the end the side contained a vet (Nick Burrell) making his debut and a stand in goalkeeper (Andy Stokes) who had to leave the second team match early to get to this game on time. This doesn’t take away from the major challenge on the pitch which was also going to be tough against a Bedford team lying in the top 3 and who had plenty of substitutes, compared to Bar’s bare 11.
Early on the signs were positive with John Hobbs (what was with the sunglasses?) looking dominant in midfield alongside the pink sock wearing George Wickham. Meanwhile Dave Ensor and Simeon Nicholls were looking lively on the flanks. It was no surprise when an early goal came with Andrew Jones latching on to the through ball to fire home after 5 minutes.
For most of the rest of the half the quality of the teams for this level was high with the game pretty even. Bedford’s young side forced the entire defence to be alert with Dave Blakemore and Iain Martin often involved in breaking up attacks. Dave Ensor made a number of telling runs down the right hand side and from one cross the shot from Andrew Jones hit a defender on the goal line, which might on another day seen the award of a penalty flick.
At half time the skipper roused everyone for a big effort in the second half with Dave Ensor encouraging the midfield not to charge head long through the centre of the defence but to instead use the wings.
The second half however was much different to the first half. Bedford made good use of their extra players and maintained their momentum whilst Bar (without the ability to make any substitutions) gradually ran out of steam. As a result Bedford were able to mount a string of attacks and Bar seemed unable to release the pressure as any possession they had was quickly lost.
Crucially however stand in goalkeeper Andy Stokes was putting in a man of the match performance getting in the way of all the goal bound shots and just as importantly getting a stick or a hand on a number of loose balls close to the goal to clear the danger. Bedford won countless short corners during the half only for defenders to throw themselves in the way of the ball or for Andy to make yet another telling save. In particular during one goal mouth scramble it looked certain that the ball would cross the line until a vital stick hooked the ball clear.
The danger didn’t just come from the short corners – there were a number of balls played across the D which just needed a decisive touch which the Bedford forwards were simply unable to find despite pushing more and more players forward. Bedford certainly deserved something for their endeavour but they just could not make the telling breakthrough despite continuing to pressure throughout the half.
Despite the constant pressure Bar came close to doubling the lead midway through the half when a break led to an Andrew Jones goal bound effort being hooked away by a diving defender. Ironically in the final seconds Bar broke away once more and looked certain to score until the final whistle blew to break up the attack. This mattered little however as a backs to the wall effort secured a vital win.
Final Score: Potters Bar 1 - Bedford Town 0
Goal Scorers: A Jones
Team: S Walters (Capt), A Stokes (GK), D Blakemore, I Martin, J Hobbs, N Burrell, G Wickham, S Nicholls, D Ensor, A Jones, B Sayers
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