| HARPENDEN
IV: 1
LETCHWORTH V: 1
11.12.04
Jose Mourinho would have called the 4th
team defence an inpenetrable bus, Alex Ferguson would have blamed
the referee, Arsene Wenger would have rambled something incoherant
in French.
Here
at HHC.co.uk we are men of few words. "Inpregnable"
would not, sadly be one of them as the nine and a half man fourth
XI held on, scrapped, sweated and bled for each other this saturday
at the surrogate field of dreams in Hitchin.
Playing
the reverse leg of the game lost 4-3 in the opening weekend of
the
season, the squad was heavily depleted due to injury, unavailibility
and Christmas
shopping (you know who you are) and had to resort to the drafting
in of family members so manufacture a starting ten. Sadly Vice
Captain Nick Crane's fiancee Hannah was more inclined to pick
up a book than a hockey stick
in a disgracefully treasonous act to the club (only kidding H
- the shirts are never softer or cleaner than when you wash them
x).
The
game started in a very end-to-end manner as both sides created
chances, Dan Carter almost getting on the end of a Mike Edmond
cross, and the rebound from an Edmond shot was put against the
post by Pete Evans from the edge of the 'D'. Good pressurizing
work by Rich Harle and Dave Wain on the flanks enabled James Evans
to win a short corner, which Edmond duly dispatched for his tenth
league goal of the season - other captains is the best tally in
the club? (ed: no, but it's close!)
The
blue army then had to weather a storm of Letchworth possession,
desperate to make their one man advantage tell, with amazing last
gasp tackles from Ryan Ely, Simon Bates and evergreen left-back
Brian Smith preventing 'keeper Ben Wain from having to make too
many stops. His low centre of gravity and sharp reflexes prevented
an insolent Letchworth forward from pouncing on a rebound, however,
by throwing himself half in front of the ball and half into the
post to close the angle. And close it he did! Half-time 1-0
Letchworth
came out from the interval like the clappers, desperate to get
themselves back in the game, but the staunch back-lines of the
Harpenden heroes
held fast, and the scud-like dispensing of the ball from Ely allowed
the blues to counterattack. Almost playing on the break depsite
being at "home",
the most notable early chance fell to Carter, who, when deciding
whether
to shoot or cross from the top right hand edge of the "d"
chose both and hammered the ball between the back post and the
onrushing Edmond.
Not
long afterwards Letchworth scraped a lucky equaliser as a mis-hit
cross crept in at the far post (actually it was a pretty decent
shot but I get to write this so damnit I'm having some artistic
licence - you should have seen the one that got away...)
Disaster
was to strike, though, as left half Dave Wain was forced to limp
off with a calf injury, leaving us to try to hold out for 20 minutes
with a two-man disadvantage against an opposition buoyed by their
equaliser...
Were
the blue heroes up to the task you may ask yourself? Read the
team sheet - when you play Ryan "Menelaus" Ely, Simon
"Ajax" Bates and Nick "Hercules" Crane as
your back three (NB for the groupies Gavin "Achilles"
Bray is missing in action), a two-man disadvantage is nothing
and a legendary performance is almost mandatory!
The
sound of the final whistle was like music to the ears, however,
as we held out for our third game unbeaten, and a solid mid-table
position going into the Christmas Break... Full-time 1-1
An epic report for an epic performance!
The 4th XI odyssey will continue in early January, but some of
the missing chronicles may be completed (or at least annotated)
in the mean time...
Happy Chrimbo readers
Report by Dan Carter
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