Herts Charity Shield Round 1 - Tuesday 4th August 2011

Match Report by Dan Sinclair

After the long break (all of 2 months), competitive football finally returned to Hertingfordbury Park in the shape of a Herts Charity Shield First Round match against local rivals St Margaretsbury. The Bury boys were one of a few teams to do the double over The Blues last season so naturally there was concern about getting the season off to a good start, especially taking the hard pre-season into account. The spectators will remember this match for the injury in the first half... to the linesman and the short musical interlude of Herb Alpert & Edith Piaf whilst waiting for a replacement!

Hertford lined up with a familiar team to the end of the season avec new faces, Joe Kelly, Tom Wade and Dave Hunt, although to be fair Dave missed last season due to injury. They started brightly, passing the ball around the freshly watered grass, getting a feel for the Bury boys who also played some flowing football creating a couple of decent chances.

The Blues still seemed a little rusty in the final third, timing runs and weighting passes, which often ended up with offsides or the ball skidding to the Bury keeper but it was promising. 28 minutes in, alarm bells started ringing, the ref halted the match and ran over to the linesman at the far side of the pitch. Of course murmurs broke out in the crowd, "he's seen something", "uh oh, someone's gonna get sent off" but no, the poor lino sheepishly started walking to the dugouts, allowing the players to have an impromptu drinks break. Apparently the linesman had pulled a groin muscle so the race was on to find a suitable replacement, old boy John Staines was nominated but failed a late fitness test. Fortunately Clive Brooks, St Margaretsbury's Assistant Manager had a suitable local replacement so the match continued 15 minutes later after the musical interlude.

Hertford, fresh from the break, took charge of the match. Chet Johnson played a neat through ball for Mark Draper who under pressure slotted the ball calmly under the keeper and into the net. The match played out to half time for yet another 15 minute break and the chance to catch up on the hot gossip of the evening

Half Time: Hertford Town 1 - 0 St Margaretsbury

The second half wasn't as eventful as the first unfortunately. St Mags kept trying to claw back into the game, occasionally breaking down the wings and putting in wayward crosses, The Blues held firm, as firm as they could.

As the match skipped on the lack of fitness became apparent, tired legs, purple faces, lots of bending over, it was like watching the fan's team in the Powell-Hedley Tournament! Tiredness didn't stop a few players though, most notably "newbie" Tom Wade who had grafted all night long and Chet Johnson who at times, seemed to be covering both wings. Bury chopped him down a few times for his sins but granted the opportunity of a coup de grâce in the last 10 minutes when a Dave Hunt through ball found Chet curling a shot around the hapless keeper Matt Deamer... we watched... we groaned... the ball curled inches wide of the post.

Substitutions soon allowed normal faced players to replace ones of a purple nature. Another debutant entered the field of play (this was before Chet's shot), Jamie Packer welcome to the club!

The game fizzled out but there were cheers at the end, after a month of unavailing pre-season friendlies The Blues kick started the campaign with a good team win in a polished Hertingfordbury Park

Full Time: Hertford Town 1 - 0 St Margaretsbury

Hertford Line-Up
1. Robinson. 2. Cooper. 3. Ardiles. 4. Gordon. 5. Nathan (c). 6. Lawrence. 7. Johnson. 8. Kelly. 9. Wade. 10. Draper. 11. Hunt.

Subs Used: Packer (for Gordon), McArdle (for Draper), Lillis (for Wade)