HARPENDEN II: 5
BEDFORD III: 0
16.10.04

Harpenden came into this match with a point to prove on the back of a disappointing draw against West Herts. After a Ben Brind e-mail that 'encouraged' the side to play better than the previous weeks efforts, the 2s knew that nothing else but a win would be acceptable.

From the outset, the blues tore into their opposition with a number of slick passing movements that pinned the visitors down in their own half. After only a couple of minutes they took the lead through a simple short-corner routine dispatched by Ben Thompson, the ball bouncing back off the backboard before the keeper could move. This set the tone for the rest of the game, and after a period of play in which both sides strung together a number of good passes together and developed some half chances, the blues won a series of short corners. For the second time, Ben Thompson drilled a hard shot past a static defence for a 2-0 lead. Towards the end of the first half Harpenden began to pass their way around the Bedford defence instead of trying to go through them, and this soon nearly paid dividends although a fine HHC effort was disallowed having been lifted in to the D.

The call at half time was for more the same passing triangles that had begun to appear at the end of the first half and Harpenden responded in emphatic style in the second half. Five minutes in to the half, Nigel Timms released Chris Parsons who came inside his marker and played the ball to Ben Thompson who found to skipper Fraser Tant in the D and his undercut shot rocketed like a tracer bullet into the back of the net via a dispairing keeper’s glove. At 3-0 to the Blues, it was to all intents and purposes ‘game over’. Harpenden were in total control, their dominance showing in winning all the 50:50s, passes were going to stick and the Bedford players were starting to get annoyed with themselves and each other. A flowing, one-touch move down the right flank released Tant one-on-one with the keeper, and he who made no mistake in scoring his side’s fourth.

Tant's hat-trick was duly completed a few minutes later after Toby Pickard went on a typically tenacious foray down the left hand side, cut inside his man and found his captain in space at the top of the D. Tant shook off his marker and proceeded to calmly slot the ball under the advancing Bedford keeper.

Harpenden continued to dominate and ought to have increased their lead to 6-0 after another flowing move down the left flank which resulted in Fraser Tant putting Nigel Timms onto goal, only to see his fellow centre forward blast his shot well wide of the target. The scoring had ended but not the match as Harpenden continued to fight for every ball that came near them. Ben Brind summed this attitude up by dispatching a Bedford forward that had had the audacity to try and take the ball around him. The match ended with Bedford having a run of six straight short corners after the final whistle, none of which they managed to convert, so Harpenden duly secured their first clean sheet of the season.

The 2s travel to take on a strong Stevenage side next week. They’ll take encouragement from their display of ball retention, passing and finishing and if they can play as well next week will have every chance of ending Stevenage’s unbeaten start to the season.

Report by Chris Parsons

Fraser Tant: Hatrick

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