Premier Division
Potters Bar Town 0 St Margaretsbury 0
Saturday, 27 March 2004
A dreary drizzly afternoon for this important clash where three points would go along way in each teams ambitions for their league campaign.
With injuries and holidays already reducing the size of the squad illness saw Jeff Cross and Kieron Woodward unable to play which saw The Town give a debut to seventeen year old Leigh Wooldridge in mid field.
A good crowd saw a bright start from the home side. James Dickie went down the left and crossed in to find Kevin Hyde near the penalty spot who controlled the ball and hit a good shot that the keeper pushed round the post for a corner. Kevin Hyde then cut in from the left and from outside the box hit a firm drive that cleared the bar.
A free kick from the left from Rudi Hall was curled through the six yard box and it was a surprise that no player from either side got a touch.
It was a keen competitive game played at a good pace. The visitors were always looking to catch the home side of the break and twice there were timely interceptions from first Luke Garwood and then Michael Sharman.
Paul Wackett won the ball back on the right advanced and was fouled. The free kick from Rudi Hall was curled in to find Kevin Hyde well placed but his header was off target. Rudi Hall then played Kevin Hyde down the right who cut in and hit a low shot that the keeper saved with his legs and a defender cleared but only as far as Leigh Wooldridge who shot wide.
James Dickie harried a defender and won a free kick to the right of the area. The free kick from Rudi Hall was cleared back to him where he was then fouled. James Dickie took the resultant free kick which he hit firmly into the six yard box where it was cleared off for a corner. The corner was cleared as far as Like Garwood who quickly released James Dickie down the right who put in a tantalising cross through the six yard box but again no player could get a touch.
The visitors crossed in from the right but Robert Abrahams was well positioned to flick the ball over the bar for a corner.
Both sides had put in a lot of effort with The Town showing the grater determination and getting to the ball first and looking the more dangerous but half time arrived without a goal.
The visitors again tried to catch on the break but Stuart Milne was on hand to clear for a corner and then Luke Garwood made a timely clearance as the visitors endeavoured to up the tempo at the start of the second half.
A good one-two between Kevin Hyde and Phil Turner saw Phil Turner find space on the edge of the box but James Dickie took the ball but was blocked by a defender who cleared for a corner. Phil Turner then beat a defender down the left and crossed in but Leigh Wooldridge could not get in a clear header.
Then a ball in from the right saw Phil Turner get behind the defence but he was closed down by the keeper. A free kick from Rudi Hall was cleared out as far as Michael Sharman who hit a firm shot but wide of the right hand post.
The teams could not maintain the tempo of the first half. On seventy minutes the home side were reduced to ten men when Leigh Wooldridge saw red for his challenge when jumping for the ball. The visitors saw the opportunity to use the man advantage and put on their heaviest pressure of the game in the next five minutes. A cross in from the right was well punched out by Robert Abrahams under pressure.
Fresh legs in the shape of Danny Ward who came on to replace Kevin Hyde as Phil Turner dropped to a more mid field role. A ball in from the left saw Danny Ward turn and put in a first time shot that went past the right hand post. A visitors attack was quickly broken up and Phil Turner was put through the centre with Danny Ward and Rudi Hall supporting the break but his pass forced Danny Ward too wide on the left and his cross was kicked off for a corner.
The final whistle sounded and in a well refereed game both sides had to settle for a share of the points which did neither a favour in the table positioning. Both defensives dominated and The Town were strong in the challenge with Luke Garwood settling in along side Stuart Milne and Dave Blower again showing that starting regularly can only improve performance as he again did not put a foot wrong in a commanding defensive performance in an overall team performance that was good and only lacked that one finishing touch to secure a goal and three points.
Paul Surridge Assistant Manager commented:
Overall we have to be happy with a point today, the circumstances surrounding the game with five regular players missing and two lost just an hour before we met saw everything thrown into a bit of turmoil.
Then we got a man sent off with twenty minutes to go so when you take all the circumstanced into account a point is not a bad result for us.
It was not a great game of football, it was quite scrappy but we scrapped ever so well.
Of the clear cut chances in the game we had the better of them and the chance in the first minute was probable the best chance of the game.
We worked exceptionally hard to get what we did out of the game.
We have now kept three clean sheets on the trot against three of the top teams in the league and that is something we were not able to do earlier in the season.
Thats a massive plus as we have stopped letting silly goals in and we are more than happy with what we got today.
Team: Robert Abrahams, Michael Sharman, James Dickie, Luke Garwood, Stuart Milne, Dave Blower, Rudi Hall, Leigh Wooldridge, Phil Turner, Kevin Hyde (Danny Ward), Paul Wackett |
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