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HARPENDEN III: 3
WINCHMORE HILL: 2
13.10.2007
With Two wins under
their collective belt, the hopes of Peter Kneale’s team
were very high. Kneale’s men were keen to continue their
winning streak and stamp their authority on the league early on,
and knew that Winchmore Hill were not going to be a pushover.
Last year saw two draws when the teams came together, and Harpenden
were well aware that to get a result, they would have to counteract
their visitors’ aggressive style of hockey not let them
take control.
After a motivating talk by skipper
Peter Kneale and the ever-vocal Ben Brind, Harpenden got off to
a perfect start when, about 5 mins in, they took the lead. A break
was started from the back by Sam Martyn, who found Paul Nash midway
through the Winchmore Hill half, with pinpoint accuracy. The pint-sized
veteran carried the ball all the way into the D, and took a strike
which was going straight for the bottom left hand side of the
goal. A clever deflection from goal-hungry Nigel Timms wrongfooted
the keeper, who didn’t have a chance as he was committed
to the path originally hit by Nash. Harpenden were 1–0 up.
The Hill came back hard, winning the 50:50’s, attacking
hard and playing their preferred long ball tactic that caused
Harpenden problems last season. Within minutes of going behind,
they broke down Harpenden’s defence and put keeper Brind
under a great deal of pressure. Soon they had their breakthrough,
slotting a strike in to Brind’s bottom left hand corner.
1 – 1, and Harpenden suddenly realised that they were going
to have to pick up their game – all the more so when, moments
later, Harpenden conceded a short corner, and a well placed shot
into the bottom left hand corner again left Harpenden suddenly
2 – 1 down.
Then, the game changed, as Harpenden upped it a gear. The whites
started to build some lovely runs down the left side of the pitch
in particular, with David Waters and Simon Evans causing all sorts
of trouble, and Ben Turner was as ever being a menace to their
attack, breaking their play down nicely before winning the ball
and converting the attack to the Winchmore’s goal. Half
time came with Harpenden playing the better hockey but trailing.
Harpenden knew they had to pick their game up even more if they
were going to get a result against these guys, and after yet more
motivation from Kneale and Brind, that’s exactly what they
did. Ross Walker began to control the midfield, making some great
moves and switching the ball with ease to confuse their defence,
and Oliver Moore and Tom Ward both looking dangerous on their
attack which started to pick points out of the oppositions defence.
Suddenly Winchmore Hill were on the back foot, playing like a
team under pressure. A run up the right hand side from Evans,
a swift pass to Turner, and a hallmark Kneale dribble into their
D won a short corner. Fraser Tant stepped up for the Shot, which
was deflected by the keeper to their left back who, in efforts
to clear the ball, proceeded only to hit it against the stick
of Nigel Timms and in to the goal. 2 – 2 and all of a sudden
a win was back on the cards.
Both teams started to settle into a rhythm now of constant attacks
but no one managed to penetrate each others defence. With just
over 5 minutes remaining, fine work up the left hand side this
time between Tant and Turner won yet another short corner. Martyn
struck the shot, which was deftly deflected by Kneale over the
keeper and in to the roof of the net. Winchmore Hill gave it their
all and cam e at Harpenden with everything, but the defence held
firm.
“That was another great performance from the
lads” said skipper PK. “We could have sat
back after getting the scores back to 2 – 2 but we fought
hard to get the lead back. We showed true Harpenden Colours.”
Harpenden travel to Stevenage 2’s next weekend, keen to
maintain their 100% record and establish themselves as genuine
title contenders this season.
Team: Ben Brind, Sam Martyn, David Waters, Ross
Walker, Pete Kneale, Ben Turner, Simon Evans, Paul Nash, Fraser
Tant, Nigel Timms, Oliver Moore, Tom Ward
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Scorers
1) Nigel Timms
2) Nigel Timms
3) Peter Kneale
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