WELWYN GARDEN CITY: 2
HARPENDEN II: 1
7.10.06

On the back of a 100% record and after a midweek coaching session with GB Olympic hockey star Nick Thompson, the twos arrived for a tea-time push back at Welwyn brimming with confidence they would secure a comfortable victory.

Whether this confidence had crossed the line towards complacency is a moot point, but for whatever reason, Harpenden never really go going. To paraphrase one E. Blackadder, they started badly, tailed off in the middle and the less said about the end the better.

Within 60 seconds they were behind, a goalline abberation from normally dependable stopper Ben Brind gifted the hosts the perfect start. Let's just hope that there aren't any similar goalkeeping blunders in the Croatia v England game this Wednesday...

An early defecit was not in skipper Pete Kneale's gameplan, and for a while it looked as if the blues were somewhat shellshocked. However, his side began to inch themselves back in the game, with Nigel Timms unlucky not to be awarded a penalty stroke after being unceremoniously upturned by the Welwyn keeper. Kevin Moxham and Wayne McGuire had a point to prove having been dropped by first team supremo Mike Emes, and they did their best to drive the team forward, but the break came with Welwyn still a goal to the good.

A roasting (not in the premiership footballer sense) by the skipper at half time was inevitable, and seemed to do the trick. Harpenden enjoyed their best spell of the game for the 15 minutes after the break, culminating in a fine solo goal from McGuire - his first for the club and something of a reminder to Emes: "All I can do is keep plugging away, hope that the first team scouts report back favourably and see whether there's a route back for me." said McGuire.

At 1-1, the game was their for the taking, and on another day, Timms would have had two more goals to his tally after fine crosses from Veteran Ulsterman Niall McAlister picked out some clever runs from Timms. Meanwhile, Satsuma-scalped midfield string-puller Bob Arnsby was having more of an influence, while the right-side was being increasingly opened up by Paul Nash and Fraser Tant. However, at 1-all the blues were always vulnerable, and from one of their rare attacks of the half, Welwyn restored their lead from a short corner routine, harshly awarded but poorly defended.

Try as they might, Harpenden couldn't restore parity, and sank to their first defeat of the season. "One to forget, to be honest" commented Kneale, "but this team is made of strong stuff, but we'll be back next week to make amends. Actually, I won't be, cos I'm at a wedding, but I have every confidence that the lads will pick up three points in my absence."

Wayne McGuire: Leveller not enough