SOUTHGATE ADELAIDE: 0 HARPENDEN IV: 0
11.11.06

Harpenden 4's travelled to Southgate having finished the first round of games as league leaders. Dan "The Provider"'s pre match team talk was right on the button as he expressed how teams would now be out to upset the table topping side.

The "lucky orange shirts" were unleashed and the starting eleven took to the field of battle. Some new faces appeared in the opposition line up but one stood out from the crowd as young Ben Williams (see winchmore hill and enfield report) was now wearing an opposition shirt (and given some of his antics later in the game he's welcome to it).

Harpenden started slowly and never seemed to find their second gear. The 'Laide seemed to capitalise on this and the opposition captain seemed to lead every charge and played some good hockey. With Jon "The Priest" Pagan absent this week a lot was being asked of new comer Geoff "The Horse" Gould. (Horse = GG, and he works like one, for those that are wondering).

Attack after attack were broken down by the defense of The Rock, Ali "Homes" Barrett, Nat-King, and Straw, with some great saves from Ben "Hay" Wain. Asked to push it up a notch by BigRobSubManager the 4's seemed to respond and a few chances were created with some great hockey from The Provider and Goals. Elder marshalled the midfield in his usual dominating way playing some neat hockey with Roadrunner and Rocket but still the team in orange were unable to break the newly constructed solid Southgate defence. Replacements Blood-Bin, Rambler and the Beast all unable to make an impact through the opposition however all contributed to a great defensive display.

Half time came and The Provider again came up with a great motivational speech, one that can't be mentioned in case opposition members read this site.

The team took to the field with new spirit and it seemed to work as Adam "Nat-King" Cole left ex-Harpenden lad Ben Williams in his wake (and more than once, on his a%$e) down the right side feeding the ball to The Provider who released a precise through ball for Goals to run onto. Unfortunately the opposition keeper was up to the challenge of one of Harpendens top scorers and blocked the one on one effort.

Nat-king had a great day on the right of defence and had no trouble taking the ball forward past Williams several times and with Beast and the Rock at the heart of the defence Southgate struggled to get through. Both Straw and Homes on the left subdued most attacks before they got too far. A big loss to the oranges was Elder Berry as he limped off from his marshalling role early on, but with The Horse making his season debut for the 4's he provided an excellent service in front of the back four. We all wish Elder a quick recovery as his marshalling proved to be the missing ingredient in the second half.

Unfortunately it was one of those games where the defence get most of the mention due to the 0-0 result however everyone played their part in an epic battle with a much stronger Southgate side than that faced on the first day of the season. Funny how that happens at away games isn't it chaps!

Harpenden left the field slightly deflated however heads should have been high as they were still undefeated in this seasons campaign and many individual efforts on the field had meant the orange shirts were still top of the league.

Next week sees a home game with a visit from Stevenage 5ths. "The Lucky Orange shirts" must win this game to get back on track and put a gap between themselves and the chasing pack.

Match report by Dan Carter