Harpenden II: 2
Cheshunt: 2
21 February 2004

Harpenden IIs demonstrated why they are the current comeback kings, following up last week’s last-gasp draw with Stevenage by levelling up a two-goal deficit against Cheshunt.

The visitors are riding high in second place and had beaten Harpenden 3-0 before Christmas, but this result flattered them in the extreme. But for some profligate finishing and a spot of luck, the first match could have had a very different result, so the Blues had a point to prove this time round.

They didn’t help their cause by starting slowly, struggling to hold on to possession and allowing their visitors a succession of short corners in the opening 10 minutes. Neither side was too surprised when one found the backboard to give Cheshunt the lead, and within 5 minutes the lead had been doubled when Neil Liles was struck on the foot with keeper Ben Brind beaten, and the resulting penalty flick was despatched by the visitor’s rotund front man with consummate ease.

This galvanised the blues in to action, with the memories of the excellent comeback the week before giving them genuine reason for optimism. A flowing move down the right saw Nigel Timms’ first-time shot hit the cross-bar, albeit that belonging to the football goal behind the hockey goal, while Ben Thompson and Dave Munton’s ferocious short corner striking always looked a threat.

Just minutes before the break, Harpenden could, and indeed, should have equalised. Skipper Fraser Tant played a neat one-two with strike partner Timms, only to slide the ball wide of the gaping goal. “Man, that was a shocker” commented Timms. “I’ve seen some bad misses in my time, most of them by me actually, but the gaffer can have no excuses for that one.”

So, Harpenden went to the break 2-nil down, but the spirit in the side is such that, far from viewing Tant’s aberration as the end of their hopes, they took it as indicative of how easily they could slice through Cheshunt’s aged defence. They knew that a third goal for Cheshunt would be game over, but if the next goal fell to Harpenden, there were points – or a point at least – for the taking. Player of the year favourite Brind did his bit to keep Cheshunt at bay, ably supported by his defensive ranks, while the pace of Neil Lunn and Niall Blackwell on the flanks began to unsettle Cheshunt. Soon, the pressure told. A Thompson short corner was saved but only pushed back to the injector, Tant, and the skipper slapped home to reduce the deficit.

As Cheshunt became ever more edgy, so their time-wasting became more blatant and their tackling more cynical. Timms was upended by a horrendous tackle, and when the same defender was outwitted by a Tant turn, a yellow card seemed inevitable. Bizarelly, one wasn’t forthcoming, but such disgraceful tactics only served to spur on Harpenden further. With just minutes remaining, Tant swivelled in the D and dragged the ball through the narrow gap between keeper and post for his 13th of the season, to gain a draw for Harpenden. The ensuing bitterness from Cheshunt was as unnecessary as the Harpenden spirit commendable.

Harpenden head to Rickmansworth next week with a score to settle from defeat earlier in the season.

Goalscorer Tant breaks in to a walk