Determined Hertford beat curse of St Mags

by Matt Harris

If it’s footballing entertainment you want then Hertingfordbury Park is the place to come these days as marvellous Marv’s side helped to serve up another thriller to see in the New Year.

League results against these opponents have been poor for the last couple of seasons but former Saint Mark Draper rescued a point with virtually the last kick (head) of the game.

Hertford started the brighter of the two teams and after 15 minutes had dominated possession. A high wind had made conditions difficult for both sides but Hertford prospered most as in-swinging corners from Lee Roberts caused panic in the away defence. At that 15 minute mark, a swerving ball in was dropped by the opposing keeper only for St Mags’ Brett O’Connor  to clear off the line.

From this point our opponents came into the game and the rest of the half was evenly poised. St Mags’ captain Anthony Anstead was a handful throughout the match and his shot with the outside of the boot brought a decent save from Lee Robinson in goal.

It was end to end for the next period of play without any clear chances. On the half hour mark however, action was broken by the surreal sound of an ice cream van – at least I hope others heard it and it wasn’t just me!!

Then on 35 minutes came the move of the match as a left wing cross from Roberts was met brilliantly on the half volley by Samir Hadi. Sadly for Blues fans, Samir’s effort drew an equally brilliant save from the St Mags keeper as he tipped the ball onto the bar and away for a corner.

The game snapped back into life but the major flashpoint was yet to arrive. As St Mags raced through into the box just before half time, Robbo came out to clear but as he did so, the attacker went down. Instantly the referee waved play on but the linesman flagged furiously for a penalty.

This was the cue for handbags, yellow cards, accusations of mistaken identity and nine minutes of injury time. We can only guess as to what the ref’s assessor made of it all.

Half Time: Hertford Town 0 - 0 St Margaretsbury

At the start of the second half the wind had settled down and a more entertaining period was in prospect. The half began with a Hertford free kick that Samir Hadi curled just over and shortly after, Samir was released by Mark Draper before the keeper managed to clear with his boot.
In truth however, St Mags probably edged the first half hour and it was time for Hertford to ring the changes. Firstly, new face Senol Nas was brought on before Chisom Diorgu made his Hertford bow.

Diorgu looked threatening down the left but his telling contribution came in the middle of the park as he opened the scoring on 74 minutes. A Lee Roberts free kick was swung in and our supersub got his head to the ball first. It seemed to take a deflection from a defender but the effort was goal bound so the strike can genuinely be claimed by the Blues’ player.

As we all know however, the opposition seem to be at their most dangerous when Hertford have scored and so it proved. A minute later, Robbo produced the save of the match from the St Mags Leigh Rose (the man with the Doug Santos / Benoit Assou-Ekotto hairdo) but he could do nothing a minute later as the defence went AWOL leaving St Mags with an easy tap in.

From here it could have gone either way but it was St Mags who nudged ahead as a cross from the left was deflected into the net off the unfortunate captain Michael Cooper.

That could have been that but this Hertford side doesn’t know when it’s beaten and deep into injury time another Roberts free kick was headed back into the box where Draper applied the finishing touch. Overall it was no more than we deserved and thankfully for all Blues supporters, there wasn’t enough time left for St Mags to mount another attack.

Full Time: Hertford Town 2 - 2 St Margaretsbury

Hertford Line-Up
1. L.Robinson. 2. Packer. 3. Dayo. 4. Cooper(c). 5. Deng. 6. Blackett. 7. Hadi. 8. Campbell. 9. Draper. 10. Bangura. 11. Roberts.

Subs Used: Senol (for Campbell), Diorgu (Hadi), Mays (Deng).

First Half Photos © 2012 Dan Sinclair
Second Half Photos © 2012 Natalina Verta
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