SHEFFORD & SANDY IV: 1
HARPENDEN III: 0
20.11.04

Comparable to playing CSK Moscow away in the Champions League, the visit north to the colder climes of agricultural Sandy is always one of the glamour ties in Division 6SW.

Harpenden took to S&S’s Ice Arena with a number of personnel changes in defence. Simon Redford (temporarily defecting to the Eastern Bloc), Geoff Gould (still awaiting the physio’s magic touch) and Skipper Keith (a Straussian absence through a fractured finger seeing him instead endeavouring to attain Olympic umpiring standard in a record 4 weeks) were replaced by the backline of Ely, Rodwell, Stenson and Bray. Nigel Timms kept goal showing his commitment with a heavily bandaged right hand.

For much of the game the defence looked watertight, staying disciplined throughout. When Harpenden managed to break they looked dangerous stringing together a number of fluent passing moves. The whole team did very well to keep out the Shefford and Sandy attack, and at half-time the game remained goalless.

James Evans joined his father on the pitch in the second half and looks likely to cement their status as one of the classic father-son combos. Running around with a youthful abandon last seen in the 3s with the David McNicoll penalty corner war cry, Evans Jnr got to the touchline on a number of occasions finding Preest and Jim Keith, who both splayed their shots wide.

As the game wore on, the tremendous work-rate that Harpenden were putting in left them looking more and more exposed as the game opened up. It was with a depressing inevitability that Shefford and Sandy managed to score with a matter of minutes to go.

A valiant effort and to Harpenden’s credit the Charlie Ringers of Shefford and Sandy commented afterwards on what an enjoyable and well contested game it was. Their five-game unbeaten run ended Harpenden look to reassert their place in the league when they take on second from bottom Royston on Saturday.


Report by Ali Keith

Tom Preest: 8 goals in 6 games, but none today