WEST HERTS III: 0
HARPENDEN II: 4
16.02.2008

Harpenden’s second XI continued their quest for promotion with a comprehensive victory over West Herts 3. Even if the margin of victory flattered Harpenden slightly, a strong defensive performance combined with a newly-found cutting edge was far too much for the home side.

Harpenden, lacking established midfield players, lined up with an experimental ‘christmas tree’ formation with two attacking midfielders supporting lone centre-forward Fraser Tant. While the side took time to adjust, Ceri Sharma and Nigel Timms took to their new roles with aplomb and managed to break up West Herts play while also getting forward quickly to support Tant.

After a cagey first fifteen minutes that the home side just edged, Harpenden adjusted and began to impose themselves on the opposition. Just before the interval Ceri Sharma battled into the D and struck an opportunistic reverse-stick shot which the home keeper could only deflect into the path of Pete Kneale, who calmly slotted the ball home.

At 1-0 the game was still very open and West Herts took the game to Harpenden after half time. But the Harpenden defence calmly rebuffed all attacks and keeper Ben Brind was left free to concentrate on shouting at everyone. After one attack the ball was cleared to Tant who began to progress up the right wing, playing keep-ball with Niall Blackwell in an inspired passing move. Finally Tant shipped in the perfect cross for Timms to notch Harpenden’s second.

West Herts’ hopes were gone now, and Harpenden continued to make chances as the game opened up. Tant created another for teenage supersub Ollie Moore, while Sam Martyn provided the icing on the proverbial cake with a clinical short corner strike.

The win leaves Harpenden in second place in Division 3SW with another crunch match with Royston coming up on 23rd February.

Scorers
1) Peter Kneale
2) Nigel Timms
3) Ollie Moore
4) Sam Martyn