HARPENDEN II: 0
BISHOPS STORTFORD II: 4
11.12.04


A hugely disappointing performance against Bishop Stortford on Saturday has left Harpenden IIs looking at a New Year relegation dogfight.

Despite having the bulk of possession and chances in the first half, the blues someone ran out 4-0 losers – a result that leaves them languishing third from bottom having played more games than four of the bottom five. But it could have been so different. The blues began the stronger side, Lance Boyd-Clark making his second team bow in midfield and putting in a tireless performance, and Niall Blackwell and David Waters constantly probing the right wing. One cleverly worked link-up saw Waters pull the ball back to Fraser Tant in the D, and only a great diving save prevented the skipper giving his side the lead. Two further last-gasp saves, one from the ever-improving Toby Pickard and another from Tant again, began to give the impression that it might not be the blues’ day.

Ten minutes before the break, Stortford took a lead that had been against the run of play, but at half-time Harpenden felt confident that the points were there for the taking. Even when the visitors scored a second goal just after the break following a calamitous defensive lapse, the game was not dead and buried, and there followed a period of 15 minutes in which the blues played the games’ best hockey from either side.

But, the match was effectively settled when a curious umpiring decision saw Broxbourne awarded a hit for feet, when their defender had drilled the ball knee-high in to Niall McAlister. With men forward in numbers, Stortford raced towards Ben Brind’s D and made no mistake with a three-on–two. It was a well-worked goal, but one that even the visitors recognised as being somewhat fortuitous. An equally dubious fourth goal, as the blues strove for a consolation, rubbed salt in to the wounds. Credit to Storford, both for the excellence of their keeper in the first half and their ruthlessness in the second half, but they will know they’ve won a six-pointer that could so easily have gone the other way.

So, over half way through the season, Harpenden will know that they have woefully underachieved thus far. Too many chances have been squandered by the front me in the opposition’s D, the defence has leaked goals when in previous years this regularly been surrendered far too easily. Individually, very few of the team can give themselves much more than a 5 or 6 out of 10 for their own performances, and this will need to be improved post-Christmas otherwise the blues will be in Division 4 come October.

Niall McAlister: Not the first Irishman to be knee-capped