Tring Athletic Reserves 3-1 Harefield Utd Reserves

With several returnees and the inclusion of Elliot Goward for valuable game time there was far more quality and experience available against a competitive Harefield Utd squad and perhaps with this in mind there was a presumption of victory.

Within 10 mins we had given a masterclass how NOT to defend, pass the ball, win tackles and talk to each other and as a consequence were 1-0 down.

Our midfield and forwards decided to join in and again demonstrated how NOT to win the ball, pass it properly and a search for most people's first touch would have been a lengthy exercise.

Harefield Utd on 3/4 occasions exposed our backs who were getting little or no help.

Just to top things, our first 2 short corner routines were ruined by an inability to set a simple pass.

Then lo and behold having despite our lack of quality we kept working hard and started to push Harefield Utd back and on 20 mins a well delivered Joe Naylor cross was headed in by Jack Sunderland.

For the rest of the half, we at least didn't slip to the standards of the first 10/15 mins. However it's maybe because I know how good we can be, it was far from what's expected, but at least we restricted our opponents to few real chances .

Playing down the slope we got a firm grip on proceedings but again failed to convert several quality crosses from our left and instead of being 3/4 in front we were puffing and panting to keep our season going.

But as ever this team kept going and 2 tidy finishes from Joe Naylor and Elliot Goward in the 61st and 68 th minute sealed the win.

In fairness Harefield Utd kept going but at least we now defended in a more determined fashion and saw the game out.
On the plus side 3 points, 2nd place, bench consisted of one 19 year old 2 U 17s and 2 U 16s.

Onto Royston Town at home next week in the League Cup.

L.Priestley. W.Mullarkey,M.Stacey,G.Terblanche.
W.Salmon ( A.Holmes),M.Blunsom (L.Cesterone). T.Paul ( J.Smith),
S.Henderson,E.Goward(T.Ainsworth), J.Sunderland( H.Desbiens) J.Naylor

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