BLUEHARTS: 3
HARPENDEN: 1
29.09.07

Harpenden Hockey Club entered into a new era of its history on Saturday with their first game in Premier A of the East League. This is the highest level the club has ever played and has not been entered into lightly after an intense pre-season schedule instigated by former player of the season and now coach, Tom Bunbury.

His fitness regime and tactical nause has put the 1st team squad in a great position to make an impact on the 2007/2008 season. Pre-season matches included an exciting 5-3 defeat at Purley and a 3-3 draw with Milton Keynes - both matches saw the introduction of some young stars of the future including Ollie Moore who scored a great goal against MK.

Saturday's game was never going to be easy, facing ex-National league side Bluehearts but Harpenden went in with some confidence given their pre-season win against them last year. Early exchanges saw Harpenden create some promising chances and it was against the run of play that Bluehearts scored the opener from a short-corner. Harpenden hit straight back with Ceri Sharma 'scoring' a great goal only to see it disallowed as the ball was struck over shoulder height. The rest of the first half was dominated by Bluehearts whose game looked like that of a polished Prem A outfit. Harpenden dug in deep however and looked set to go into half-time just one goal down when a defensive error put through the home team's striker who finished clinically.

The second half saw Harpenden commence without their midfield talisman Lance Boyd-Clark who was subbed early in the match with a nigly hamstring injury. A re-shuffle at half-time saw coach Bunbury introduce Ali Hutson who, fresh out of retirement made a big impact. It was his shot that brought Harpenden back into the game early in the second half and for a period of 10 minutes it looked like the equaliser was just waiting to happen. Unfortunately it was not to be and despite an excellent second half, Harpenden could not find the back of the net for a second. Bluehearts 3rd came with just a minute to go from a short-corner and killed off any hope of points however, Harpenden can take great heart from this performance as it showed the potential they have to compete along side top teams in Prem A.

Report by Dan Burgess

Scorers
1) Ali Hutson