HARPENDEN II: 4
HERTFORD: 1
27.11.05

A remarkable second half turnaround saw Harpenden turn defeat in to a convincing victory at home to Hertford on Saturday.

Before the late kick-off at the Brache, skipper Steve Piercy locked his team in to the dressing room, demanding that each individual ask themselves whether they had given all they could thus far. The feeling was that the 2s had squandered too many points to date, where perhaps a more confident, aggressive approach might have delivered a better points tally. By the final whistle, the 2s had created countless chances, scored as many goals as in any game this season, and played some of their most fluent hockey.

However, despite this positive attitude and controlling the first half, the blues went to interval 1-nil down. After a period of concerted pressure, Niall McAlister and Fraser Tant both squandered chances to put the blues ahead, and against the run of play, Hertford scored from one of their rare attacks. Would the blues wilt, as they have done previously this season, or would they respond to adversity?

The answer, emphatically, was the latter. Piercy's half time words told his side to continue as they had done, and to keep believing that the goals would come. "Next goal wins" was the message, the skipper questioning whether Hertford would wilt were the blues to get the goals a great first half performance had merited. He shuffled his pack, replacing Ali Arnsby and Tant with Toby Pickard and Chris Parsons, and within moments, the blues were level. The goalscorer was Rob Arnsby, adding to his first blues goal the week before, and from a broken down short corner moments later, the pint-sized ginger maestro had given his side the lead. Youngster Arnsby has been the pick of the blues squad this year, bossing the midfield and being at the heart of much of his side's best work. More performances like this and first team skipper Mike Emes will surely be giving him a call. "It's flattering to have the media talk about me in those terms, but I'm just taking each game as it comes and enjoying my hockey, regardless of which team I'm representing." said the carrot-topped playmaker.

Within minutes, Neil Liles powered home another short corner, to score his first goal for the blues for many many years. Liles has been the first-choice short corner stopper for 10 years, but his crisp strike will have pundits wondering why he's not been taking the hits.

At 3-1, there was no way back for Hertford, and a swift move by the blues saw McAlister put the icing on the cake with a clinical finish when put through by Pete Kneale, to put some deserved distance between the side and give the blues a win after 3 straight draws.

"Yeah, the lads responded, and that's good stuff." said Piery. "To a man, we wanted it more than they did, and that brought results. We battered them in the first half, despite losing it by 1-0, and they knew that if we could get an equaliser, they'd be in for a tough 35 minutes. I'm proud of the boys, and chuffed for them.

Neil Liles: First goal since Thatcher was PM