Harpenden’s run of four consecutive victories came to an end on Saturday when the blues lost an entertaining match against a well-organised side from a strong club. But, there was plenty to be positive about, not least the way that the Harpenden outfit created a hatful of chances against a decent defence, and the way in which a number of players adapted to playing in unfamiliar positions.

Harpenden were under the cosh for the first quarter of an hour, but always looked likely to trouble their hosts on the break. First, skipper Fraser Tant’s through ball picked out Ben Thompson’s lateral run and his clever deflection beat the keeper but whistle narrowly past the post. Then, minutes later, a Niall Blackwell mazy run was curtailed illegally, and from the resulting penalty corner, Thompson hammered home to put his team a goal to the good.

The match was changed irrevocably in the fifteen minutes before the interval. Harpenden could have doubled their lead with the skipper hit the post after a quickly taken free hit from Niall McAlister, while the pace of the returning Nigel Timms put Broxbourne under intense pressure. But, at the other end, Broxbourne look dangerous, and three quick goals before the break left the blues with the proverbial mountain to climb.

With first choice deep-lying midfield general Pete Kneale failing a late fitness test, Evergreen Irishman Niall McAlister stepped in to sit in front of the back four, but soon limped out with a recurrence of his hamstring injury. “Oi tort da humstreng woot b’ foin boi noi, but oi’ve ubviusluh cum buck frum unjurrah tyoo sooyn.”

But, fortunately Dave Waters was on hand to move from his favoured right back position to fill the centre, and did so with aplomb. Harps laid siege in an attempt to gain a foothold in the game, the feeling at half time being that it was ‘next goal wins’. Debutant Dan Barber began to find his feet in a new set-up and looked lively, while new left-sided combo Neil Lunn and Tom Vickerton began to develop an understanding that bodes well for the rest of the season. A string of fine saves, wasted chances and hit posts came and went, but when the otherwise immaculate Andy Lunn stopped a Broxbourne shot on the line with his foot, Broxbourne had the chance to make the game safe from the spot, and duly obliged.

Harps’ heads never dropped, even when a fifth Broxbourne goal went in, and it was no more than the blues deserved when Tant added a late consolation with the final touch of the match.

Said man-of-the-match Waters, “Frankly, it would be perfidious, iniqitous and indeed pernicious to call our effort today anything other indefatigable. Nobody can be inculpated for the result, there’s no need to be for opprobrium, and we shouldn’t be lugubrious.”

Harps have back-to-back eminently winnable games coming up against Royston and Bishops Stortford; if they play in these matches as they did against Broxbourne, they’ll take the points.

M-o-M Muddy Waters: Adapted well to unfamiliar role