| LONG
SUTTON : 2
HARPENDEN: 7
30.09.06
Harpenden continued their early season
winning ways with what eventually became a relatively easy victory.
Following a promising pre-season Harpenden where keen to put the
long drive behind them and record their second successive win
of the campaign against a combative Long Sutton side in the deepest
depths of Lincolnshire.
Harpenden
had much of the early possession and continuously pressured the
Long Sutton goal with a number of chances in the opening forays.
Harpenden soon found themselves two nil up after 20 minutes following
a well worked penalty corner from Baines and Boyd-Clark and another
well taken goal by in-form forward, Danny Burgess. However, the
home-side were not dead and buried and managed to work their way
back into the game when a lucky deflection fell kindly for the
Long Sutton centre forward to volley home. Harpenden responded
quickly, but then a sloppy goal was conceded by the normally impenetrable
Harpenden defence of Tom Bunbury and Paul Davison, which caused
some anxiety at half time, with the score at 3-2.
Harpenden
showed great resolve and bouncebackability to then dominate the
second half, maintaining possession for long periods of time,
showing more patience in order to work the gaps and then attack
with real cut-throat play. There were some beautifully worked
team goals in the second half from Russell Timms, Lance Boyd-Clark
and David Jeffrey. Boyd-Clark also rounded the afternoon off by
converting a penalty stroke to notch his first hat-trick for Harpenden.
This then allowed the in-form Harpenden team to play ‘keep-ball’
in order to see the game out and claim the three points. Another
great performance from a confident Harpenden side, which even
attracted plaudits from the Long Sutton supporters after the game.
This
week sees the newly promoted side take on Norwich City at the
Vauxhall Brache ground in Luton at 12.30pm on Saturday. Harpenden
will be looking to build on early season form and take an early
lead in the division.
Match Report
by Tom Bunbury
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