We went behind quite early and for 15 minutes or so did not really look capable of pulling the goal back: but then Chris combined well with Kevin who struck with precision to equalise. An injury to KevF,  struck in the head by the oppo keeper's stick, left our midfielder looking like Terry Butcher and to a makeshift rearrangement of the team while he composed himself. It also lead to the surprise introduction of The Skipper and the rearrangement that won us the game. Winny -  new nickname "Showboat" - asked for a run up front and within 20 minutes rewarded The Skipper's faith with a brace of goals that put us in the clear.  Needless to say Showboat was subbed before he could do further damage to the reputation of old people everywhere. When will he put his cardie on and spray the roses?

Funny opening to the game - we gave the impression of dominating after a string of shorts which we just could not squeeze home. But when Harpo broke they did so with pace and power, and seemed to catch Jack napping to take the lead after 10 minutes. From here they took charge and were 3 - 0 up before Alec decided to switch to sweeper and shut the door left by the positive-minded Ray. This and the introduction of super-sub Simmo, stemmed the tide although Alec was missed in midfield as was the ever improving KevF who was obliged to join Kevin up front. But we were now in the game again and www missed a stroke - perhaps harshly awarded as Ray forced the ball under a prostrate keeper - and could have had another.

For the first 10 minutes we looked the better team, dominating play and winning a shortie from which Ray was amazed to see a defensive stick deny him a goal. However a long ball from the home side found an old-fashioned goal-hanger unmarked and he slipped the ball past Jack and we were on the back foot. After 20 minutes we were three down and under the cosh, a crushing defeat on the cards, but gradually we clawed our way back into the game and the second half - a glorious flick from a shortie to close the scoring apart - was dominated by some brave and imaginative attacking play not only from our improvised midfield, but also from Ray, Hutch, DH and the show-boating Winny all of whom pressed forward with purpose, leaving Jack to make some good saves to deny Berko on the break.

Yet again a depleted outfit came away from a heavy defeat to a top side with a great deal of pride having been involved in a very sporting and hard fought encounter. The only casualty was Winny's stick the head of which landed 30 yards from the rest to provide a great 2nd half comedy moment. And one of the great pluses was the effect the experience may well have had on Chris who played with great heart and enthusiasm throughout. THE FOLLOWING DAY HE WAS SUCCESSFUL AT THE FINAL COUNTY U11 TRIALS AND IS NOW PART OF THE COUNTY SQUAD. Well done Chris.

The game was competitive rather than good and much of it was scrappy, but the experiment of playing Ray at right link is working and we did play some good hockey especially when he combined with www and KevF, who has come of age since The Battle of Broxbourne (thankfully not too literally in this aged team) and did a good job as the "legs" of his older colleagues. WHerts pulled a goal back before halftime but partially because of some extrovert and effective keeping from JP and partly because of their lack of ambition, they did not really look likely to get what they wanted from the game. For some reason (perhaps they were frightened of the pace shown by Kevin and Mitch?) they did not seem to want to attack us in numbers - Berko, our opponents next week, have shown that is the way to beat us - and even, for a substantial spell in the second half, allowed our patient build up to peg them back.

The first 20 minutes was the most satisfying 5s spell of the season. We actually held them at bay. There was a few minutes when we thought - and perhaps this was the mistake we made - that we could deny them a win. It was not to be: we conceded two in quick succession, welcomed Cocky after an horrific journey from an umpiring assignment in Bedford, and then reached the relief of the halftime break. Another heroic spell of defending was ended by another brace of goals and, as we finally flagged, two more near the end. Not once did we get the ball into their D, rarely did we get it into their half, never did we stop trying to play, at no time did we stop being a united thorn in the champion's side, nor did we fail to come up with a new hero in every minute.

The 6s players (who were all a credit to Geoff) are used to selecting a "Man of the Match" - something the 5s haven't taken to - so let's run through the contenders. All 4 5s debutants - Mick, great stops, great potential for a newcomer to the game, Jack, fantastic tackling and concentration from a young lad playing left-back against a good team who attacked constantly down the right, Terry who ran and covered and ran again and the diminutive Dan who showed delightful touches as our lone forward. Nigel, who whenever the chance came to tackle hard took it and arrived at the top of the D before the ball at some shorts, is in the running, as is Chris who insisted on making the most of the few passes he had and KevF who brought a lump to The Skipper's throat with his indefatigable spirit and covered every square inch of the pitch - admittedly in two half-sized bites. Ray was superb: but then he just had to be.

Two goals down within 10 minutes it looked like a hiding for us, and those annoying, taunting tossers - on and off the pitch - were beginning to get to us. We started a come back when Pinger smashed home a rebound from Seb's shortie shot. And then invention was born out of necessity as makeshift midfielder Ray forced the ball through for makeshift striker Tone to pop home. But we were behind again just before halftime and shortly after it Shandy again had a two goal advantage. Pinger then weaved through to give Tone an empty net which he filled with aplomb, but once more we conceded too quickly. Now we felt we could start taking a few more chances with Alec pulling the strings in the middle, Ray pressing down the right and Cocky the left, and we looked good value when Pinger smashed home a loose ball to make it 5 - 4 and score our 50th league goal of the season.

But we were stretched at the back and Jack - who made a lot of good saves - was unlucky when he saved at full length a shot which was probably going wide, only to see the lose ball swept into the goal. We were still winning shorts and Pinger fired in one of these just before The Skipper inserted himself to replace the injured Tone and put the seal on creditable 6 - 5 defeat. All of this misfired when Sebby rattled the backboard from a shortie and nearly went horribly wrong when Pinger hit the post in the last minute. We would have gone above Berko into second place.

In many ways however it was a battle of short corners - all 8 goals came this way.  Seb blasted home two early on but gradually we came under pressure and conceded far too many shorties: not even the impressive frame of KevO could stop us from falling behind by halftime. Seb equalised early in the second half and for a spell it was anybody's game but the away side had more in reserve and it required some good work from JP to keep us on terms. When we conceded shorts their more experienced players were called forward to, quite deservedly, polish us off.

On the positive side, Cats turned out and had another great game, despite trying to get away with murder, Kevin returned in good form and Simmo was looking more active than he says he is.  And we're still on course for 4th place. On the other hand Ray's comeback stumbled on a knock and  DH is suffering from a bit of a pull. 

After comfortably surviving 15 minutes with 10 men we were able to put more into attack when www arrived and despite a fairly even half were 2 - 0 up at the break, Cats having carefully placed two lifted shots although the second probably went further than it should. We played well for a long spell after the break and scored two good goals: the first a Cats solo (but KevF had a crucial touch in the middle of the dribble) finished from a near impossible angle and then a delightful reverse chip from Mitch. Eventually the home side awoke and put us under some pressure, only to be held up by the ferocity of Nigel's tackling and an all round competent defensive performance from the old masters. They did beat Jack to reduce the arrears but KevF popped up to score his first league goal and ensure we finished the game with a comfortable margin.

On a cold, bright morning the home side were first out of the blocks and in the opening 10 minutes unlucky not to add to the 13 goals they scored in their previous two games. But for some reason they insisted on attacking through the middle where Fez and Cats were in great form and Sebby  was able to pick off their runners. Gradually we were able to bring Peter and Henry into the game and to test Harpo's outstanding young keeper, who blocked Peter's shortie shot but had no chance when Sebby lifted the rebound over him for our first. Peter scored the second, again from a short, before the lead was reduced following a quick break out of defence that could well have been halted by the correct umpiring decision.

The second half again produced early lively attacks from the blues but once more we asserted ourselves and wasted a number of well won shorties.  It was a rare Harpo short that nearly changed the game when Hutch stopped with his stick but saw the ball jump up and brush his knee: Jack saved the stroke and the momentum which could have swung to the opposition stayed with us. With 5 minutes to go we at last used Cats at a short and he swept the ball high into the net to ensure the rarity of The Skipper making a full appearance in a winning team.

Within 10 minutes the score was 3 - 2  and a repeat of the turn around at Berko was on the cards.

However Tommo switched himself with Loll to tighten things at the back and Cats got the measure of the game. Although Berko were now throwing everything at us - and Jack was called on to make some good saves - we extended our lead when just the threat of bringing Brownie back saw Cats expertly convert www's reverse pass on a shorty. By then we were creating numerous chances on the break - with Mitch unlucky on two occasions when pulled back by a whistle for us - and www was able to pick out the re-introduced Brownie at the end of a Cats inspired move to complete his hat-trick.

We were pressed back in our own half for most of the second period but Jack was only called upon to make 3 saves, and it took just one shortie from Sebby - smashed home with typical power - to enable us to snatch a point which hard work all over the pitch had earned for us. Many thanks to Marnit who, nearly all players of both sides agreed, did a great job of blowing virtually single handed.

The key to the win was an opening spell in which we took a two goal lead from our first two shorties - first Pinger stopped for Sebby and then dummied to score himself. Before and after that the visitors had good chances and it was inevitable they would pull one back, but our momentum was forward and when Will's run opened a gap for Cats he feed Pinger whose finish made sure we had a two goal lead at halftime. A solo from Pinger put us 4 - 1 up but the Badgers did not deserve that and gradually clawed their way back into the game with 2 goals and constant pressure, sensing blood when Tommo limped off. It was left to Mitch, who had a super second half, to pounce after a full length stop by their keeper and save us from what would have been a very nervous last 5 minutes.

Other performances worth mentioning: Jack made a great save in each half, Tone kept an effective eye on the East League's leading scorer, DH gave a great impersonation of DaveBoy, Seb was a tower of strength, Simmo lead by example, Will & Mitch showed courage as well as delicate skills and Fez & Kevin both impressed on their 5s debuts.

The goal against after 5 minutes was silly - everyone missed a long corner except the guy standing 5 yards in front of Jack: he took the chance well.  Sebby's three first half goals were all firmly hit shorts, reflecting the pressure we put them under - much coming from Cocky's skilful turns and firm passing. Sebby was making life hard for their midfield with constant harassment. 

At half-time an unplanned change was forced as Ray limped out of the game, Sebby switched back to sweeper and the subtle skills of Cats were introduced into midfield. Another half-time change was more deja-vu - for the second successive week an oppo player turned into an eccentric umpire.  We came under more pressure now and the visitors narrowed the gap with a well worked goal but again a shortie restored our advantage: this time Seb fluffed it but managed to work the ball to Cats who sent a delightful lob into the far corner. Harpenden came back strongly and their young midfield looked good: at times some desperate defending was required (welcome back Nigel!) but we conceded only a well struck shortie and held on for the points.

We are still trying to understand how we were trounced in a game we controlled until halftime. A quick and rare break saw us go behind after 10 minutes but two solo efforts from stand-in midfielder Sebby, both superbly finished, were just reward for first half hard work and effort from a team again missing a number of "regulars". After the break the signs were ominous as Berko took to attacking in numbers down the wing defended by The Skipper and seemed to be doing a man-to-man job on Seb, but we soon extended our lead thanks to a well worked shortie routine which used Ray to set up Sebbie's third. 

Suddenly we were under the cosh and conceded three goals in quick order, having no answer to the strong running of their younger midfield players and hard hitting of the older ones. We battled back and Will capped a fine debut on grass with his first goal for the 5s to equalise. But again Berko came back and despite good saves from Jack added three more.

The fireworks started in the midst of the second half goalrush. The Berko ump (a player in the first half - never a good idea) took exception to a collision which sandwiched the Berko centre forward between Ray and Daveboy (an unwise place to be) and the whistler laid down the law. Both captains were warned in the strongest terms that ".. any more of that ....". 10 minutes later and goaded by persistence from our midfielder, a Berko player hit out wildly and struck Seb's legs. The obvious follow up - theatricals from Seb and a chorus of righteous indignation - culminated in a red card for the Berko man. Not the sort of thing we want in SW8.

Rob had a very promising debut showing exceptional effort and good spirit. 

A depleted Stevenage team came up against top of the table West Herts and for the first 20 minutes it looked like a mismatch with much younger opposition slicing through the Stevenage midfield and defence with Seb at sweeper and goalkeeper Jack Dingley working hard to limit the damage to just three goals.

We then started to string some moves together with Mitch and Kevin combining well with good support from www to put the opposition under pressure. The arrival of Cats as a midfield sub and Will moving to left midfield kept the pressure up and a great move down the left side saw Mitch and Kevin combining to set up Cocky for a chance that unfortunately was struck hard into the corner of the goal. The first half finished with more Stevenage pressure and several short corners which West Herts did well to resist.