HARPENDEN II: 1
ROYSTON I: 1
30.10.04

After the previous weeks setback against Stevenage, Harpenden were confident that they could get regain their league momentum against Royston side who were below them in the table. Positives had been taken out of the second half display against Stevenage and the entire squad was determined to achieve a win which, they felt, was well within their grasp.

The match started well for the Blues and after only a couple of minutes they took the lead. A good move through the midfield put Fraser Tant through and, when he was forced wide by the Royston defence, he managed to square the ball and found Toby Pickard, unmarked, on the penalty spot. Although the defensive team claimed that the ball had touched a Harpenden foot, Pickard made no mistake with his finish as he drilled the ball home from six yards out. It was the perfect start for the home team and they continued to dominate the half; alternately marking the Royston forwards out of the game and then playing neat, passing hockey in order to create their own chances in the opposing half. However, despite their superiority in the game, The Blues were unable to capitalise on their chances and the scored remained the same with the Royston keeper making some good saves. Although Harpenden were on top in the match, Royston were playing neat hockey and had a goal disallowed when they dangerously lifted the ball of an initial short-corner strike.

The second half continued the trend of Harpenden creating good scoring opportunities and being unable to put them away. All of Timms, Parsomns and Thom,pson had good chances to double the lead, but all of them saw their efforts either go past the goal or were saved by the Royston goalkeeper. As the match wore on Royston began to drag themselves back into the game as Harpenden got more tired and allowed them more time and space on the ball. They began to win a succession of short corners and off the last of these, the shot hit Neil Liles' foot on its way to the goal. After initially giving another short corner, Paul Wise consulted with the Royston umpire, and gave a penalty stroke against the Blues. The Royston sweeper, looking remarkably like the Milky Bar Kid, made no mistake in placing the ball past Ben Brind and making the scores level. This goal gave both teams more impetus and the remaining minutes of the game saw both teams have good chances to score and win the game but, once again, the defences and goalkeepers were in the ascendancy and the match ended without any further scoring.

Harpenden will be disappointed with only one point from a game that they ought to have won comfortably. The shooting in front of goal was what let them down in a hard fought game. However, it was a good response to the thrashing at Stevenage from the previous week and they will take many positives out of it when they travel to Southgate Adelaide for their next league fixture. If they can take the positives from an ultimately disappointing result and apply them again, a return to winning ways will not be far off.

Report by Chris Parsons

Neil Liles: Put a foot in

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