Mens 2nd XI Match Report
Potters Bar Men's 2nd XI v Harpenden 4th XI
26 November 2011 | by Anthony Levy
Following the previous week’s stunning 8-0 victory over Broxbourne, Bar now faced two crucial games against promotion chasing sides. The first of these saw what was likely to be a tricky home encounter against Harpenden IVs where typically of recent weeks the side welcomed back a number of key players whilst at the same time a similar number of players were unavailable! The skipper along with vc Richard Hughes were back in defence with Will Stanyard back to lead the front line. In the middle Geoff Smith (unusually seen without his goal keeping kit) was a useful addition to help Shag provide the short bursts from the side line.
From the start Bar took control looking much sharper all over the field in securing possession so that most of the first half was played in the Harpenden half. A number of chances were created early on but generally met by an obvious star of the visitors – their goalkeeper. A short corner on 4 minutes was well struck by Will Stanyard which led to a double save, including the follow up from Chris Filbey. Charlie Carr was pushing forward from his defensive role to see a shot saved from a short corner and then saw another good effort go just wide of the goal.
He was on hand again on 17 minutes to play a crucial role in setting up the opening goal. On this occasion his run found Dave Ensor close to goal and despite genuinely trying to score for once (!) his effort was smothered by the keeper that led to a short corner – from which Will Stanyard hit an unstoppable shot low into the goal for a well deserved lead. Bar continued to dominate and a second goal was only prevented by a remarkable save by the keeper on 26 minutes – Will Stanyard again the key Bar man as his snap shot seemed destined for the top left hand corner before the keeper turned the shot away.
At half time the skipper was perfectly happy with the commitment and play although Shag perhaps confused some by commenting that sometimes people were holding on to the ball too long, whilst on other occasions they were not holding on long enough! The Harpenden team however presumably got a rocket at half time as they came out in the second half looking much more like a side at the top of the table rather than the relatively ordinary team they had appeared in the first half.
Will Stanyard was again twice denied by the keeper soon after the resumption, but it was Harpenden who were now playing the better of the hockey and a number of short corners finally brought an equaliser. On 40 minutes Ben Balmforth had finally been brought in to action in making a short corner save, but 3 minutes later, despite making another save, the ball rebounded back to the short corner striker who made no mistake at the second attempt.
Bar now knew they were in a game and were required to dig deep and fortunately were able to relieve some pressure by restoring the lead just 2 minutes later. The planned move from the short corner went to Jon Yates who was meant to pick out Chris Filbey on the far post – luckily Chris was ready for a ball higher up than he had expected and was able to turn the ball home from close range. From my angle it looked like Jon’s effort was actually going in, but an attempt later to cause an argument over the correct goal scorer in the bar, merely had Jon confirming that without Chris’s intervention his shot would have gone wide!
The game was now being played more and more in the Bar half with Jon Yates often involved in last ditch tackles. Despite the pressure however, Bar managed to extend their lead with the move of the game and perhaps the goal of the season so far on 57 minutes – Michael Levy appeared to have got himself cornered on the left near the half way line. A neat turn and run got him out of trouble before feeding the ball to Shag who played the ball on to Paul Brady, who in turn found Dave Ensor making his usual run on the right. Dave didn’t make the mistake of going for goal – he raced into the D, drew the keeper and slipped the ball past him to leave Will Stanyard with the simple task of tapping into an open goal.
The two goal cushion turned out to be crucial as Harpenden kept up the pressure and continued to win short corners that Bar were generally able to deal with. However with time running out Harpenden got one back when Paul Brady and Ben Balmforth got in each other’s way in keeping out the initial effort to leave a waiting striker to tap home the loose ball.
Bar managed to keep possession for the remaining seconds to secure a vital win.....which subject to a late result from the Southgate Adelaide game sees the side back up to the top of the table.
Final Score: Potters Bar 3 - 2 Harpenden
Goal Scorers: W Stanyard (2), C Filbey
Team: S Randon (Capt), B Balmforth (GK), R Hughes, C Carr, J Yates, P Brady, M Levy, M Edson, C Filbey, D Ensor, W Stanyard, G Smith, C Edwards
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