Herts Intermediate Cup
Sun Sports Res (1)2 Tring Athletic Res,(3)3

T.Callendar,P.Bagatti,L.Barkers-Obua,B.Johnson ( J.Butler)L.Irons (G.Ball)
C.Clay,J.Shaw, C.Church.Z.Crawford,O.Ruttle (K.Golberg) T.Shaw.

This was a bit like "after the Lord Mayors Show".For the 1 st Rd of the Herts Int.Cup we were drawn away at Queens School which not only served to confuse a number of Tom-Toms but also resulted in a 200 yard walk from the dressing rooms to a pitch which had a poor quality surface. This together with the use of Club Linesmen gave the whole experience a feel of (with due respect) of Parks Football.

To be fair we were missing Ben Twelves (work) , Joe Naylor(back injury) and Jack Sunderland, George Carberry and Josuah Hart promoted to, the First Team. After a couple of clumsy attempts to play we burst into life and within 15 mins we were 3 up with 2 tidy finishes from Connor Church and one from Zac Crawford and it seemed this would be a stroll in the School grounds. Sun Sports rarely looked like cutting the deficit till a missed clearance followed by a failure to press the player in possession resulted in a 40 min goal giving our opponents some unnecessary momentum.

The second period was probably as badly as we've played individually and as a unit that I can remember. Poor decisions were made, players failed to carry out the basics of pressing to gain possession and seemed incapable of either playing the ball into good areas or retaining possesion.
After 10 mins Sun Sports doubled their tally after a comedy of errors which I won't detail. With 35 mins to go the result could have gone either way and from a series of well delivered corners we rode our luck. As our management team aged visibly, although the effort can't be doubted, nothing else was going right. We failed to manage the game and to a large extent our shape deserted us.

After a couple of changes we looked fractionally more solid but rarely has a final whistle been more welcome.

A massive improvement will be needed in our next game.

Tweet