| Peterborough Town: 1
Harpenden: 5
05.11.2005
Harpenden Hockey Clubs men’s 1st eleven
produced possibly their best performance of the season to destroy
Peterborough Town 2’s, their fifth victory in six games.
The first goal came from a free hit following
good work from Nigel Timms just outside the circle. Captain, Mike
Emes, fired the ball to the far post, which Dan Burgess seemed
to get the vital touch to score. The Peterborough defence claimed
otherwise with angry protests from the home side. Clearly rattled
by conceding the controversial opener, the ‘Boro defence
were in disarray and soon conceded again.
The second came from a well drilled penalty corner
routine. The strike was initially saved by the ‘Boro keeper,
but Russell Timms was in the right place at the right time to
finish from close range. The third came from a drag flicked corner
from Emes which caught a deflection off a defender on its way
to the goal. Detailed post match analysis showed the initial shot
was heading wide of the target until the defender’s touch,
and as such the score was credited as an own goal for the defender.
The ‘Boro defenders again protested at the
third goal, but this time the umpire was pushed too far which
led to an angry Peterborough player to be yellow carded and sent
to the sin bin. Harps took advantage by using the extra player
to keep the ball for what seemed like an eternity. This tired
the Peterborough side, resulting in them leaking goals later in
the game.
The crowd in the second half were treated to some
excellent, fast-paced attacking play from the away side. Kevin
Moxham scored a rare goal from open play that would have been
at home in the national league. The goal was the end product of
some slick build up play with Paul Wise providing the final pass.
Sweeper, David Jeffrey piled on the misery for the ‘Boro
players with a neat finish from a direct penalty corner strike.
The demoralised Peterborough team had little to smile about until
later in the second half, when a rare mistake in the Harps defence
led to a consolation goal for the home side, the game finishing
5-1.
The Harps Captain commented after the game, “It
was a harsh blow for Peterborough to concede an opening goal like
that, but there can’t be any arguments about the final result
as Harpenden provided them with a lesson on hockey.”
Harps played in the 1st Round of the HA Trophy
on Sunday and came through that with a 1-0 win against Lincoln
Hockey Club, with Alistair ‘Jabba’ Hutson getting
the winner with 5 minutes left to play. Not quite the same finesse
as the previous day, but a win all the same. Round 2 sees Harpenden
drawn against Division 1 rivals, Essex-based Old de Ferrians,
who the blues also take on this weekend in the league. The Blues
will be looking to continue their good form so far this season
which has put them at the top of the table.
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