Harpenden II: 5
St Albans Exiles: 3
6 December 2003
Somewhat
overdue but very welcome nonetheless, Harpenden's forwards
finally emerged as a potent force during a comfortable win
over strugglers St Albans Exiles on Saturday.
The
blues have been less than prolific in front of goal this
season, but their guests at the Brache had no answer for
some excellent approach work and clinical finishing. Ben
Thompson was first to hit the backboard after ten minutes
following an incisive lateral dribble from Niall McAlister,
who as was at the heart of much of Harpenden's better moves
and had easily his best game of the campaign to date. Not
to be outdone but his strke partner, skipper Fraser Tant
soon doubled the lead after a great dribble and pull-back
from Dave Waters, with a first time shot from the edge of
the D that gave the keeper no chance as it flew in to the
top corner.
After
20 minutes, it was 3-0, when Thompson fired his second of
the match after Niall Blackwell combined with Pete Kneale
on the wing and slipped over the perfect cross. Thompson
has spent a couple of years away from hockey building business
empires and playing happy families, but he's now beginning
to show the kind of finishing that made him a first team
regular a few seasons ago, and this can only be good news
for Harpenden in the second half of the season. "Yeah,
it's nice to be back with a stick in hand rather than a
laptop" commented the greying financial maestro.
"It's taken a few weeks to find my feet, but now I
feel like I'm back to my best, ready to grab some goals
and take us up the league. Of course, remember: league positions
can go up as well as down."
At
3-0, the points were safe, although Harpenden were guilty
of a couple of glaring misses or over-indulgent finishing,
McAlister particularly culpable but such was the rest of
his otherwise flawless game he can be excused.
Defensively, the blues had had little to do, so it was probably
not a huge surprise when they were caught cold just after
the break and the Exiles pulled a goal back. This galvanised
Harpenden, who knew they would have no excuses if they didn't
take all three points. Rich Stock dispossessed the visitors'
centre back and put Tant through one-on-one, and the skipper
lifted the ball over the oncoming keeper for his 7th of
the season to restore the three goal cushion.
Again,
Harps took their foot of the cushion and a defensive error
gifted the Exiles a second goal, before Stock got the goal
his performance so richly deserved, rounding the keeper
and tucking the ball in to the empty net for his second
goal in successive weeks after an inspired through ball
from McAlister. A late third goal for visitors couldn't
take the gloss off Harpenden's second consecutive victory
- a win that puts them 7 points ahead of Shefford and Shandy,
the team currently in the division's relegation berth and
the first visitors to the Brache when the league restarts
in mid-January.
|
Man
of the Match Niall McAlister: One-armed press-ups
paying dividends
| |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| Bedford
Town 2 |
11 |
9 |
0 |
2 |
40 |
16 |
24 |
27 |
| Broxbourne
2 |
11 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
35 |
19 |
16 |
25 |
| Cheshunt |
10 |
8 |
1 |
1 |
35 |
21 |
14 |
25 |
| Rickmansworth |
11 |
7 |
3 |
1 |
33 |
16 |
17 |
24 |
| Stevenage |
11 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
46 |
15 |
31 |
20 |
| West
Herts 3 |
11 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
29 |
24 |
5 |
20 |
| Royston |
10 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
19 |
21 |
-2 |
11 |
| Bish
Stortford 3 |
11 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
21 |
34 |
-13 |
10 |
| Harpenden
2 |
11 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
14 |
27 |
-13 |
10 |
| Hertford |
11 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
22 |
31 |
-9 |
6 |
| St
Albans Exiles |
11 |
2 |
0 |
9 |
17 |
55 |
-38 |
6 |
| Shef
& Sandy 2 |
11 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
11 |
43 |
-32 |
3 |
Half
term report
Results
Played 11
Won 3
Drawn 1
Lost 7
Points 10
Position 9
For 14
Against 27
Scorers
Fraser Tant 7
Ben Thompson 3
Dave Munton 2
Rich Stock 2
Summary
Could do better!
|
