Mens 2nd XI Match Report
West Herts 5th XI v Potters Bar Mens 2nd XI
08 January 2011 | by Anthony Levy
After a long lay-off following the early December snow this rearranged game between promotion rivals found both teams in need of a bit of match practice. In fact Spencer was so unimpressed by the effort of the side during the pre match warm up that he failed to save the hair dryer treatment and decided to let rip before the game had even started!
The team however really didn’t get the message as the opening was a fairly scrappy affair with plenty of players losing their feet on the slippery wet surface. However after 10 minutes the chances started to come Bar’s way. Miles Tomkins had a reverse stick effort that just went wide and then just a minute or so later scored the opening goal when his mazy run inside the D took him past the goal keeper to tap in. Just a couple of minutes of later the lead could easily have been doubled when Andy Stokes shot just wide after the ball ran loose to him on the edge of the D.
Most of the rest of the half (and perhaps most of the game) saw West Herts having considerable amounts of possession and territory with Bar looking dangerous on the break but with many players giving away possession too easily. Fortunately the last line of the Bar defence was usually enough to snuff out the danger and when West Herts did look to have a chance either their finishing was wasteful or they found Geoff Smith in fine form in goal.
With 2 minutes left in the half the lead was doubled when Andy Stokes reverse sticked home the rebound after an earlier shot from Miles Edson had been saved.
The half time team talk encouraged better use of the wings and crisper passing but in reality most of the second half was to continue the way of the first with Bar continuing a less than convincing effort. Andy Stokes who had chased hard up front, had to be replaced so that he could leave in time to play in goal for the 3s. Shag came on to play at the heart of the defence and the reshuffle of the side did little to change the game.
West Herts won a number of short corners in the second half but aside from one effort that looped up to hit the post, these were usually snuffed out by some good Bar defending.
Just when it looked like the game was going to end uneventfully the final few minutes brought considerable goal mouth action. On 67 minutes West Herts deservedly pulled a goal back thanks to a fine shot from the edge of the D. This could have led to worrying final 3 minutes for Bar but instead, encouraged to finally put a few passes together and to keep the ball, they spent most of those 3 minutes in the West Herts half. With a minute to go Miles Edson lobbed the ball from just inside the D having seen the keeper off his line and the ball just sneaked into the goal.
In the final seconds Bar nearly made it a three goal victory when from another break Freddie Waite’s effort was saved by the keeper, but another goal would have been really unfair on West Herts when even the final 2 goal margin of victory probably flattered Bar. Nevertheless the skipper was fully impressed by the work rate of the side in advance of having to play 2 games next weekend.
Final Score: Potters Bar 3 - 1 West Herts
Goal Scorers: M Tomkins, A Stokes, M Edson
Team: S Randon (Capt), G Smith (GK), J Yates, N Walton, R Hughes, M Levy, M Edson, F Waite, A Stokes, M Tomkins, D Fennell, C Edwards
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