BEDFORD: 1
HARPENDEN: 2
13.10.2007

Harpenden Men’s’ 1s picked up the first 3-points of their Premier A campaign this weekend against an established Bedford Town side. Harpenden, sponsored by Kingston Smith were without talismanic midfielder Lance Boyd-Clark but were lifted by the return of captain Mike Emes following a 6-month lay off over the summer due to a recurrent shoulder injury.

Playing on a brand new, but very bumpy pitch, proved to be difficult for both sides with a number of basic errors early on. But it was Harpenden that started the game with the same flavour from the previous week. The Whites side played with energy and composure, and had the better of the opposition from the start. Excellent pressure was put on the home side by forwards Ceri Sharma, Alistair Hutson and Danny Burgess, and this told after 15 minutes. Some sloppy play from the Bedford sweeper gifted the ball to Hutson, who gratefully slotted the ball past the bemused ‘keeper. 1-0 Harps.

Harpenden continued to mount pressure on the opposition with possession high up the pitch resulting in two penalty corners before half time. A drag flick from Emes was parried wide by the number 1 runner. The second saw the ball slipped left from the top to Dave Thomas, but the angle was always making the strike difficult and the Bedford ‘keeper made a simple save.

However, as in previous weeks, Harps’ concentration wavered, allowing an isolated attack from the Bedford forwards. The ball was slipped into the unmarked centre forward, who finished well, putting the ball high into the roof of the net to equalise with seconds before half time.

Rueing their lapse in concentration, Harpenden came out of the half time break the stronger side and created chances straight away. The pace and skill of Burgess on the right flank was too much for the Bedford left back who struggled to keep the Harps’ winger in check. Harps’ began to play some more confident and expansive hockey, showing why they have been promoted to the top league in the region. Bedford’s fitness was pushed, with little available to them from the bench. This started to show in the form of undisciplined and tackles out of frustration, which saw warnings from the umpires upgraded to one of the Bedford defenders being sin binned. Unfortunately, this appeared to be contagious, with Sharma putting in a lose tackle when tracking back with a Bedford player which saw him ‘binned for 5 minutes.

Harpenden continued to create chances, with perhaps the best falling to captain Emes who found the ball in space at the top of the circle but his lack of matches told and his shot was put straight at the Bedford ‘keeper. However, moments late there was a touch of irony in what proved to be the winner. Sharma back on following his temporary suspension showed excellent skills to beat a Bedford defender inside-out, and a loose tackle saw a penalty stroke awarded which was confident slotted home by Dave Thomas.

Harpenden had learnt from the previous week against Stortford, where they were unable to close the game out, and played some good defensive and possession play to hold their lead to the final whistle. There were some nerves evident which could have let Bedford in, but some superb defending from David Jeffrey and man-of-the-match Ally Arnsby kept the home team at bay, and the 3-points for Harpenden.

There was more success in the club with the 2s winning their third successive game to go joint top of their league. The 3s edged their game 3-2, with the 4s destroying their opposition 8-1. It was only the newly formed 5th team who were unable to take maximum points slipping up 2-0 against Cheshunt despite an excellent performance from the young guns.

Scorers
1) Ali Hutson
2) Dave Thomas