Mens 1st XI Match Report
Potters Bar Men's 1st XI v West Herts 2nd XI
24 September 2011 | by Miles Tomkins
A new season, an old rivalry… Potters Bar 1s kicked off their league season against fellow Div 2 new boys, West Herts. Things didn't look promising at the start as late withdrawals from the squad had left the Bar with a bare 11. This prompted the captain to give a late call up to Will Stanyard who joined Rory Brett and Ed Graves in making their PBHC debuts.
With a small match squad, a good start was essential but it was not to be. Inside 8 minutes, the West Herts right wing was given space to pace his way into the corner and round Ed Newbery at left back. He carried his run along the base line before pulling the ball back to the P spot to give his centre forward the easiest of chances, which he duly converted, giving Jonny Weller no chance in the Bar goal.
Worse was to come as West Herts doubled their lead less than 5 minutes later. The ball entered the Bar D via exactly the same route as before, forcing a save from Weller. The rebound fell back to the centre forward though, who fired off an ambitious reverse stick effort that was headed wide before striking the stick of another West Herts player (who seemed to be trying to protect his stomach) and deflecting into the goal.
This led to some rearranging within Potters Bar's back four, which seemed to have the desired effect as the Bar started to string some passes together around the back and in midfield. West Herts defended sensibly though, allowing the Bar forwards hardly any opportunities to break at speed throughout the entire game. It did happen once, though, shortly before half time, and it followed a pattern that's very familiar to those who watch the Bar play frequently; trickery from Ed Whybrow in the centre of the pitch allowed him to release Mark Turpin straight up the middle. Turpin drew his man before slipping the ball through to Miles Tomkins, who was through on goal. The covering defender got across to push him wide though and, from a narrow angle, he failed to test the keeper.
Bar had one more chance to narrow the deficit before half time as Whybrow won the first short corner of the game. The ball was slipped to the far post where Rory Brett was on hand to apply a neat finish to earn a debut goal for himself and a much needed lifeline for the Bar.
The half time team talk focused on keeping calm and keeping the ball and Bar proceeded to do both as the second half started. Owen Hughes and Ed Graves were superb as a centre back pairing, snuffing out any West Herts attacks and skilfully switching the play when Potters Bar had the ball. Such was their dominance (along with Chris Chittleborough, back in his usual role in front of them) that West Herts were only able to launch one real attack in the whole of the second half and although there was a moment's alarm as the ball ended up in the goal, it was correctly ruled out since the ball had already been taken out of play.
Despite seeing a lot of the ball though, for much of the half Potters Bar struggled to make D entries of their own as West Herts seemed happy to put men in behind the ball and hold onto their lead. Frustration began to tell and Turpin received a green card for a rash tackle on the opposition left back.
With 10 minutes to go, Bar finally upped their urgency and started creating chances. First Tomkins intercepted a ball being played across the West Herts defence and forced a good save from the keeper. Then Whybrow went through on goal but missed the target. Turpin too had a half chance on the back post that he couldn’t quite get enough contact on. With Ray Li (somehow mustering up amazing reserves of energy) pushing further and further forward from left back and Brett and Stanyard linking up well on the right, the pressure was now well and truly on the West Herts back line (which began to show as they received first a green and then a yellow card for umpire dissent).
As full time beckoned Bar had two good calls for short corners turned down but were then handed a slice of luck as they were awarded what was only the second short corner of the match slightly fortuitously. With only seconds remaining, a lot was riding on the outcome of the corner but the West Herts keeper first saved and then cleared well to leave the Bar ruing their poor start to the match and their inability to turn second half possession into goals.
A slicker performance will be needed next week as we make the long trip to Southend.
Final Score: Potters Bar 1 - 2 West Herts
Goal Scorers: Rory Brett
Team: Weller, Hughes, Graves, Newbery (c), Li, Chittleborough, Whybrow, Brett, Foster, Tomkins, Turpin, Stanyard
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