Mens 2nd XI Match Report
Potters Bar Men's 2nd XI v Rickmansworth 2nd XI
05 November 2011 | by Anthony Levy
After the last two weeks of either availability issues or late arrivals, the skipper was delighted to find that he had a solid 12 players, with at least 11 ready before the start time! It was a warm welcome back to Ryan Maidment, who was enjoying the chance to play behind the back line, as well as Dave Ensor, having been in Cornwall for the last two weeks, despite the team sheets showing him as available! What’s more, the late running 12 noon game gave most of the side the chance to see the Ladies 1s storm to victory with 3 goals in the last 10 minutes which probably gave the side a bigger boost than any pre match words of wisdom!
The match began as it was to continue – lots of good skill on show for this division with both defences having to be at their best to snuff out the attacks, and although the first 15 minutes failed to bring about any clear cut chances the game simply flew by. In fact the most interesting moment of the early skirmishes was a ball that took off from a Bar cross into the D and fortunately (!) crashed into Richard West’s stopwatch, rather than directly into his chest – although the time on watch continued, the stopping mechanism was gone!
However it was always likely that the opening goal might lead to more, and so it was as Bar scored 3 goals in 7 minutes to build a lead that they would never relinquish – on 16 minutes Bar won a short corner and oddly, based on what this reporter had seen over the last 2 weeks, this brought about a goal! Dave Ensor injected and Danny Becker played the ball to Jon Yates to beat the keeper at the near post.
On 21 minutes it was once again Dave Ensor, this time marauding down the right wing who put in the cross to Andy Stokes on the edge of the D to fire home an unstoppable shot. Just two minutes later came the third, which was very nearly the goal of the season.....Michael Levy put in a tackle deep in Bar’s half and James McCormick brought the ball out from the left hand side. He then played a delightful one-two with Andy Stokes which freed James to run down the middle of the pitch. James then fed Michael who in turn fed Dave Ensor sweeping in from the right and his shot screamed into the top left hand corner was parried by the keeper leading to an almighty scramble in the D, with the ball eventually being tapped in on the far post by an alert Freddie Waite.
Bar were certainly not having things all their own way and in between the second and third goals Ryan Maidment had just managed to deflect a shot wide and not long after the third goal some Rickmansworth pressure deservedly brought them a goal, well worked after a pass from Michael Levy out of defence had been intercepted. However Bar were able to restore their 3 goal lead going into half time from another short corner success. This time Danny Becker didn’t bother with anyone else as he fired home directly from Dave Ensor’s injection.
The half time team talk was naturally positive but with the skipper keen to ensure that the 3 man defence was not over run. Danny Becker, reminiscent of a former England football manager pointed out that Bar needed to score more goals than the opposition to win! Meanwhile Ryan confirmed that he was happy with what he could see from the back – it all looked orgasmic to him.
The second half continued the good hockey of the first half but with Rickmansworth more in the ascendancy, not helped by a knack of Bar players to run into trouble rather than look for the quick passing that brought about the first half lead. Jon Yates in particular was regularly called into action with some of his tackling and distribution play being compared to that of the late great Bobby Moore. Ryan Maidment was having a busier time and he was required to pull off a diving stop on 39 minutes from a short corner. However a similar save 15 minutes later was not cleared and Rickmansworth were able to reduce the lead to 4-2.
Bar struggled to relieve much of the pressure as the remainder of the second half stopped racing by. However the last ditch tackles managed to keep the visitors at bay with Bar also looking dangerous when they did break away. In the end it was Bar who got the vital next goal with 2 minutes remaining – James McCormick was fed the ball in the D and although the keeper saved his effort from close in, the ball ran loose for Andy Stokes to score his second of the game and secure a 5-2 victory, which was harsh on Rickmansworth.
Tea was an odd affair due to Freddie Waite not having noticed his name listed on the team sheet for this vital task! Richard Hughes it was who supplied rather a lot of pizza which was mopped up along with the remains of the tea from the Ladies 1s!
Final Score: Potters Bar 5 - 2 Rickmansworth
Goal Scorers: J Yates, A Stokes (2), F Waite and D Becker
Team: S Randon (Capt), R Maidment (GK), R Hughes, A Stokes, J Yates, M Levy, M Edson, D Becker, F Waite, J McCormick, D Ensor, C Edwards
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