WEST HERTS III: 1
HARPENDEN II: 1
9.10.04

When a fixture begins with Lanzarotte-returnee Nigel Timms wearing orange shades to 'psychologically bombard' the opposition and ends with the Chuckle Brother Dan and Toby Pickard arriving back home in Hertford to realise they'd left their kit in the West Herts clubhouse, the writing is pretty much on the wall.

The long and the short of it is basically that HHC met a poor West Herts IIIs on Saturday, sank to their level and put in a pretty inept performance all-round. Perhaps Ben Brind's post match tirade was a little strong, but amidst his colourful language was a very good point, being that the blues need to put their hands up and acknowledge that, individually and collectively, we underperformed in a match we should have won with ease.

That such an abject performance should come on the back of a gutsy outing against Broxbourne the week before should disappoint the blues even more. The one positive, of course, is that the blues did come out of the game with a point, and had it not been for a calamitous last minute own goal but Dave Waters, may have sneaked all three points, Perhaps the OG was simply an attempt by the jovial west-countryman to ensure the blues didn't get something they didn't deserve.

Harpenden were without Pete Kneale, snapped up in the week by moneybags manager Jose Mourh-Emo, and there's no doubt that that the talismanic dribble-king was missed enormously in the middle of the park. But even without PK, the blues should have had enough to overcome a young West Herts side shorn of their famous lookalikes Monty and Dorigo. An open but ultimately pretty dull and goal-free first half saw West Herts have the better of things, the blues not really waking up until a half-time rollocking from skipper Fraser Tant. Thereafter, the blues upped the tempo, focussed on doing the simple things and tried to get their Dairylee triangles in to action. Ironically, having defended a good dozen or so short corners in the first half, Harpenden's only goal came from their very first of the match, ten minutes into the second half. A cleverly worked set piece saw Ben Thompson switch the ball to Dave Munton, and his slap beat the keeper only to come back off the near post, Fortunately, Tant was - for once - in the right place at the right time to slot home from a matter of inches.

A second goal for the blues would have killed the game, but in their eagerness to score it, the blues left themselves exposed at the back. Good defensive work from Andy Lunn and a couple of last-ditch stops from Brind kept the hosts at bay, until, with just minutes to go, the blues sloppily lost possession and allowed West Herts in to the D. The resulting shot may or may not have gone in, but Waters brave diving attempt to keep the ball out only ensured that Brind was stranded and the ball trickled over the line.

"Oi cuddnt bleev ehrt" commented the Somerset Stopper. "Oi wuzz juss troiner purr et passt frurn po', buh tairt bohnced arf me stairk un inno th go. I aint bin so dissapintaired sarnce the grumbleweeds splairt hup.'"

So, after three games it's won one, lost one, drawn one for the HHC second string. They'll be hoping for another three points when they host newly promoted Bedford Town III this Saturday.

Muddy Waters: OG

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