HARPENDEN II: 2
STEVENAGE II: 0
09.02.2008

A week after a depleted Harpenden 2s lost to Winchmore Hill & Enfield, and in doing so saw themselves leapfrogged by their conquerors into second place in the league, Peter Kneale’s men comfortably overcame Stevenage IIs to reclaim that coveted second promotion spot.

The team was bolstered by the return of the Timms brothers Russell and Nigel and energetic midfielders Niall Blackwell and Ceri Sharma, and immediately looked a different side. Harpenden have made a habit of scoring early goals this season, but they nearly took this to a new level with a break straight from the push back. David Waters released Fraser Tant, who fed in Nigel Timms at the top of the D. Having cleverly worked a yard of space for himself, Timms proceeded to produce one of his trademark airshots and the chance to go 1-0 up after ten seconds went begging. Timms would make amends for this later, however.

Despite this early miss, Harps dominated the early exchanges, although the ever-critical skipper would have no doubt liked to see more chances created out of all his side’s possession. The whites took the lead on 15 minutes, after a tremendous surging run from Man-of-the-Match Tom Gosling cut a swathe through the Stevenage defence. The youngster was making a rare start for the 2s after a impressing for the 3s this season. Playing at right back, he demanded the ball from veteran club captain Paul Nash and carried it 50 yards towards the Stevenage D. A clever run from Timms drew the centre back away from the danger zone, creating space for an unmarked Tant ten yards out to fire home. After a shocking performance in the Winchmore Hill debacle, Tant will have been delighted to get back on the scoresheet, wielding his new white stick with the precision and aplomb of conductor Simon Rattle, rather than the David Blunkett of last week.

It wasn’t much longer before the lead was extended, after a fine run from Sharma picked out leading scorer Nigel Timms to scoop home his 11th of the season. With his brother Russell pulling the strings in midfield alongside Kneale, Harpenden were rarely threatened, and went in to the break a comfortable two goals to the good.

The whites came out for the second half keen to add to their goal tally, while eager to keep their first clean sheet of the campaign. While the former didn’t happen, the latter did – a relief for stopper Ben Brind. “Yeah, we’ve always conceded, which puts pressure on us we could do without. The lads deserved the win today, and with Winchmore Hill losing to Luton today, we now know that if we win all our remaining games we go up, simple as that.”

Report by Fraser Tant

Scorers
1) Fraser Tant
2) Nigel Timms