Stevenage: 3
Harpenden II: 3
14 February 2004

A tremendous effort from a team missing a number of regulars saw Harpenden 2s salvage a gutsy draw away to Stevenage 1s.

With defensive stalwart Neil Liles, youngsters Neil Lunn and Tom Vickerton and injured midfield general Niall McAlister all absent, and with Dan Barber hit by a bout of chronic food poisoning just hours before push back, the odds were solidly on Stevenage replicating their 6-1 victory when the two sides met in November. And, when a controversial short corner saw the hosts take the lead after just 5 minutes, Stevenage must have been even more confident.

But the 2004 second team are made of strong stuff, and soon equalised when Ben Thompson's clever reverse pass found Fraser Tant at the top of the D. The skipper's trademark turn and strike - aided by a deflection of a defender's stick - left the keeper leaden footed and drew his side back to parity. No more than a minute later, Harpenden were ahead. Thompson, who has really grown in to the vacant attacking centre midfield role created by the absence of McAlister, was again the creator, sending in an exocet cross that Nigel Timms drilled inside the near post with precision timing and execution. A great goal, and one that firmly let the hosts know, if they didn't already, that this wasn't going to be a walk in the park.

Harpenden came under sustained pressure as the break approached, with keeper Ben Brind pulling off a string of fine saves, and the blues were subjected to some tackling that was at best 'firm'. One particular recidivist was lucky not to have seen yellow for a series of horrific challenges on Dave Waters, and with such brutality continually unpunished, Harps found relief very hard to come by. Just before the interval, Stevenage scored their second to level up at two apiece.

The half-time team talk was all about 'what we have, we hold'. A draw at Stevenage was always going to a good result and, while pushing for a winner, the blues needed to be wary of conceding another on the break. With the pace of Timms and Niall Blackwell, the hold-up play of Tant and a fast pitch that suited Harpenden's style of play, the blues' strategy for the second half would be to not throw too many men forward, but instead to soak up pressure and try and hit Stevenage on the break. This plan looked to be succeeding, but with 20 minutes remaining, Harps' hopes were hit with a harsh yellow card for Dave Munton, who had been otherwise superb in an unfamiliar sweeper's role. Andy Lunn, young debutant Dave McNicholl and Dave Francis, the latter two drafted in from the 3s, stood up to be counted, keeping out all Stevenage could throw at them and raising some selection posers for next week. The blues managed to keep Stevenage at bay until Munton returned, but with just 5 minutes left they bundled in a third goal and thought the three points were safe.

Harpenden, however, had other ideas, and laid siege in the hunt for a leveller. With just seconds left on the clock, a sweeping move involving Pete Kneale and Niall Blackwell put Timms in the clear. His shot hit and then slipped under the keeper, and as it trickled towards the goal, Tant was on hand to put it away and secure a well-earned point. "Yeah, I suppose I could have waited to see Timmsy's shot would have gone in, but in the heat of the moment you just need to make sure. I'm a striker, it's what I'm paid to do* and I'm sure Flimmsy would have done the same in my position."

So, Harpenden host Cheshunt next week, keen to avenge a 3-0 defeat earlier in the season that flattered Cheshunt in the extreme.

*not strictly speaking true

Dave McNicholl: Great debut