HAVERING: 4
HARPENDEN: 1
23.02.2008

Harpenden Hockey club, suffering at the bottom of Prem A in the East League turned out a sterling performance on Saturday and were very unlucky not to come away with any points. The opening exchanges were dominated by the away side and Harpenden took the lead through a Todd Baines strike just 10 minutes into the first half. They looked set to capitalize on this advantage but failed to convert pressure into goals.

Havering then came into the match with a number of short corners of their own. One of these was converted to equalize and a second went in soon afterwards from an unquestionable penalty to leave them a goal to the good at the end of the half. The game was still in the balance however and Harpenden were determined to get some much needed points. Having gone down to 10 men with a soft decision at the end of the first half, Harps held their own in the opening encounters of the second. Once back to full strength they once again took control of the game but were left to rue a number of missed opportunities. Dave Jefferey came closest with a powerful short corner strike only to be denied by a good save. With just 5 minutes to go a slip by the otherwise emphatic Ally Arnsby put Havering through on the break to score with a killer blow. They pocketed a 4th with minutes remaining but the score did not reflect a superb effort from Harpenden.

Report by Dan Burgess

Scorers
1) Todd Baines