WE CAP A VERY TOUGH WEEK WITH A DERBY DRAW

Whoever compiles the fixtures didn't do us any favours last week with 3 local derbies against teams lying 6th, 3rd and 2nd in the table as well as a relegation scrap against a side fighting to stay in the Premier Division.

On Saturday we entertained near neighbours Berkhamsted who are second in the table and still have an outside chance of the title although Welwyn Garden City appear to have that sewn up.

Despite all the rain the game went ahead with the pitch very soft and sticky but just about playable (which is more than can be said about Leighton's pitch on Thursday night and it was noticeable that their game was called off on Saturday). Fortunately there was no more significant rain otherwise the game would almost certainly had to be abandoned.

Ian Richardson was faced with a selection problem, with a raft of players missing he had to pull in the Shaw brothers, Tom and James, from the Reserves and had to shuffle the team around a bit. But despite these problems we performed very well and at one stage had a 2 goal lead but the visitors came back strongly with a goal either side of half time to level things up. In the second half fatigue set in but the players put in a sterling performance with the back four of Ben Johnson, Jack Sunderland, Steve Nott-Macaire and Dave O'Connor playing superbly well to secure a merited point.

Lewis Todd was the first keeper called into action, pushing away a shot from Adiel Mannion but the first chance fell to us in the 7th minute when Chris Vardy got to the bye line and crossed the ball superbly into the box where new signing Luke Little headed just wide. Afterwards Luke said the defender in front of him put him off but its the sort of opportunity he will no doubt tuck away in the future.

We went close again 4 minutes later when Chris Vardy latched onto a through pass then rounded Carl Tasker in the Berko goal. Unfortunately the angle became too difficult and Vards shot went wide .

Jack Sunderland was asked to play in an unfamiliar left back role (probably the first time he has ever played in that position) and he faced Alex Campana the oppositions most dangerous player. Sundy did a superb job and apart from a couple of occasions kept him relatively quiet. Ben Johnson did the same job on the opposition's other dangerous winger Ashley Morrisssey who was replaced mid way through the second half.

Campana did produce a couple of fine crosses around the quarter of an hour mark with Lewis Todd tipping the first away with the second falling to Morrissey who shot well off target, Max Hercules showed that he was a winger to be reckoned with as well, going past John Chamberlain a couple of times with one cross nearly picking out Mark Riddick at the far post, a combination that was to come good later on.

As the half progressed Berko started to enjoy more possession but we looked solid at the back and in Max Hercules we always had an outlet. Despite his tender age (he has only recently turned 18) Max strikes a lovely ball and has become our set piece expert, a skill he was to put to good use twice in this game.

In the 30th minute Max's free kick picked out Mark Riddick who headed home from close range. Thirteen minutes later Max was at it again, this time a corner was recycled to him and his superb cross was headed in by Dave O'Connor. Score 2-0.

As well as scoring DOC had a few minutes earlier prevented a certain goal by clearing Adiel Mannion's shot off the line. We needed to get to half time with our 2 goal lead in tact but a minute into added time there was a scramble in our area and our failure to clear our lines proved to be unfortunate as Garry Jones shot somehow found its way through a sea of legs and past an unsighted Lewis Todd.

It was just what we didn't want as it gave our opponents a psychological lift going into the break but we still had a one goal advantage. HT Score 2-1.

Lewis Todd made a good save soon after the restart from sub Ashton Campbell and Ben Johnson did superbly well to make a crucial intervention to prevent Matt Bateman from scoring. But eight minutes into the second half Ashton Campbell did well to work himself some space and find the net with an accurate shot. Score 2-2.

The situation looked ominous for us as we started to look tired which was unsurprising considering this was our 4th game in a week with 3 of those games being played in energy sapping muddy conditions.

With the game back to level pegging and with nearly 40 minutes still remaining on the clock Berko sensed a victory was on the cards and they started to dominate possession. But we defended extremely well and apart from Alex Campana hitting the post we restricted them to few genuine scoring opportunities.

We didn't threaten their goal in the second half but towards the end Jack Sunderland found some energy from somewhere to go on some lung bursting runs up the left to run down the clock. There was one last moment of concern when with time almost up the ball bobbled around our area for what seemed like an eternity until we finally whacked it clear to safety. FT Score 2-2.

After such a daunting week we showed a lot of mettle to pick up 4 points from 4 very tough games in very difficult conditions which eases our relegation worries, as we now have a 9 point lead over Stotfold who now occupy bottom place.

Unfortunately the fixture list doesn't get any easier as we have 9 league matches still to play in 4 weeks with seven of those games away from home. We will also play Berko for the 5th time this season when we visit them on May 1st for a St Marys Cup semi-final game, with a possible final after that. So we will be sick of the sight of each other!

Teams:

TA:1 Lewis Todd 2 Ben Johnson 3 Jack Sunderland 4 Mark Riddick 5 Steve Nott-Macaire 6 Dave O'Connor 7 Max Hercules (14 James Shaw 69) 8 Sam Joliffe (Capt) 9 Chris Vardy 10 Luke Little (15 Tom Shaw 80) 11 Luke Dunstan (12 George Carbery 76).

B:1 Carl Tasker 2 Ollie Cox 3 Josh Chamberlain 4 Steve Hawes (16 Max Farrelly 80) 5 Jon Munday (Capt) 6 Garry Jones 7 Alex Campana 8 Dan Jones 9 Matt Bateman 10 Adiel Mannion (12 Ashton Campbell 38) 11 Ashley Morrissey (14 Sean Coughlan 70). Subs not used: 15 Jack Stephens 17 Frank Jowle.

Scorers:

TA:Mark Riddick (30), Dave O'Connor (43)

B:Garry Jones (45+1), Ashton Campbell (53)

Crowd:164

B Web: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/berkhamstedfootballclub

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