BERKHAMSTED IV: 0
HARPENDEN IV: 2
06.10.2007

Captain Graham Dean lead a huddle at the start of the game and told his players to put last weeks result out of their heads and to play a short passing game. Within 10 minutes of the first half Harpenden were 2-0 up and cruising.

Every player worked hard for each other and slick passing moves were abundant. The opposition attacks were broken with some good defence work from Simon Bates, Ian Beggs, Nick Crane and Ali Barrett, which allowed for the midfield to spread wide and wingers Dan Michelick and Ryan Ely made the most of the space they were given.

The first Harpenden goal came from a Berkhamsted attack as Bates intercepted and played a neat pass inside to Malcolm Jones who drove through the midfield before laying the ever scoring Mike Edmund in with a chance. Edmund fired a shot hard at the keeper and the rebound of the pads landed at his stick, with the keeper now stranded on the floor Edmund calmly rounded him and slotted home.

More great work from young Alex Beggs and captain Dean meant Harpenden looked like scoring on every attack and it wasn’t long till Ely had broken down the right flank to cross in and Edmund to finish his second in style with a flick over the keeper.
The Berkhamsted keeper kept them in the game with plenty of saves from Edmund, Jones and Beggs before the break.

The second half saw Harpenden come out in the same fashion and with a new youngster introduced into the attack looked like pushing on to score more. Young Matthew held the ball up well and played Edmund in a couple of times but the Berkhamsted keeper was again up for the challenge. The Harpenden defence was never really tested in this game and keeper Neil Smyth only ever touching the ball once for a kick away showed how well Beggs marshalled his back line again.

So as Harpenden look back to the high level they set themselves last year they look forward to a home game next week against Winchmore Hill 3’s.

Captain Dean at the end of the game told the reporter how proud of the performance he was and mentioned how we could have scored more if it was not for the fantastic game the keeper had for the opposition. He added that he hoped to see this kind of performance and commitment every week and if so was sure we would be finishing with another high league position.

Man of the match – Ali Barrett

Team – Neil Smyth, Ali Barrett, Ian Beggs, Nick Crane, Simon Bates, Graham Dean (c), Ryan Ely, Malcolm Jones, Mike Edmund, Dan Michalik, Alex Beggs, Matthew



Mike Edmund - Slots one home.


Match Report by Simon ‘Beasty’ Bates

Scorers
1) Mike Edmund
2) Mike Edmund