Spartan South Midland Premier Division.
Saturday 22nd February 2020
Colney Heath 3-2 Tring Athletic

On a windy day the Gods of Football failed to smile on Tring Athletic, who fell to a narrow defeat to league leaders and prospective champions Colney Heath when the last of three mistakes resulted in a 3-2 defeat. In the 75th minute following yet another unnecessary free kick given away wide on the right hand side of the box by Prince Nimoh, resulted in our custodian looking to catch and clear a poorly taken free kick to our front 3 took his eye off the ball allowing Spencer Clarke-Mardel to poke into an empty net.

The game had kicked off with Colney Heath playing down the slope with the wind at their back.

The game was generally scrappy caused by the tricky conditions and Colney Heath had more possession

On 23 mins our opponents played a quick free kick behind Gareth Terblanche and Wes Iroegbu gave away a foul 2 yards from the goal line by the corner flag. The ball was delivered and bobbled across the area for ex -Tring striker Chris Blunden to finish.

By now debutante forward Stephen Ebonine had started to impose himself on the game and proved a handful. David Saunders made a tremendous save from a long range strike and we generally dealt well with what was thrown at us.

On 43 mins Prince Nimoh played Joe Naylor in from the right. He beat a defender on the edge of the earlier and with his left foot beat Connor Samson ( ex -Tring Ath) to allow us to go in at half time on par.

With the wind and slope behind us there was no reason why we couldn't now start to dominate and within 2 mins Prince Nimoh hit a long range shot which just cleared the bar.

Within 8 mins there was a failure to stop a cross from our left back position and after a couple of miss kicks, Spencer-Mardell scored the first of his brace.

On 56 mins a well delivered Wes Iroegbu corner was magnificently headed home by Joe Naylor and now it was a genuine 50/50 game.

In truth apart for a half chance for sub Clem Asante and a couple of runs by Joe Naylor not much was created. The same could be said for our opponents who although they strung a few passes together going uphill didn't seriously threaten .

We decided to go for the win rather than settle for the draw even before the Colney Heath 3rd . Once it had gone in we changed to 4-4-2 and pushed bodies forward at every possibility but only a well delivered Miles Habashi corner failed to penetrate and the whistle went on yet another narrow defeat.
Again I'm loathe to criticise but we gave away at least 12 free kicks in the second half, some are inevitable but that many is not acceptable.

This was the last of our " free hits".

We have to train hard during the week and hopefully get the show back on the road for the 4th of consecutive away games at Harefield Utd next Saturday.

D.Saunders, M.Habashi,K.McManus,L.Barkers-Obua,G.Terrablanche
( J.Sunderland) O.Butler,W.Foley (A.Salami) P.Nimoh.
J.Naylor .S.Ebonine, W.Iroegbu (C.Asante)

To see the goals please click on the video link at the bottom of this page - courtesy of @SportTeamtalk please give them a follow on Twitter for local non league coverage.

Report by Neil Metcalfe who covers local non league games for the Herts Advertiser.

https://www.hertsad.co.uk/sport/football/colney-heath-v-tring-match-report-1-6527187?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social_Icon&utm_campaign=in_article_social_icons

Two goals from Spencer Clarke-Mardel and one for Chris Blunden gave Colney Heath a 3-2 win over Tring Athletic and put them in pole position in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division title race.

Three times the leaders took the lead but twice they gifted second-placed Tring a way back into it.

However, the three points at a busy Recreation Ground puts them eight points ahead of Tring now and with a game in hand.

And while there is still a lot of football to go but the title remains within sight and a promotion play-off at the very least even closer.

Tring won the toss and opted to play into the wind and up the slope for the first-half.

The breeze, which was blowing down the hill and from left to right, meant the Magpies were expected to take the game to their visitors and they did just that.

The problem was they struggled to find their players in good positions with the ball going too long or away from the forwards far too regularly.

It left chances few and far between even if possession was dominated by the black and white shirts.

There was only really one half-chance as Blunden got on the end of a long Brett O'Connor but his return back across the box was gathered by David Saunders in the away goal.

And with the half-hour approaching a booking for Spencer Clarke-Mardel was the only point of note.

That changed on 28 minutes as O'Connor and Blunden combined again, this time though with the added extra of the ball going into the back of the net.

The hosts were awarded a free-kick right on the edge of the box, down by the by-line. O'Connor's delivery was this time fired low across the box and after a couple of deflections it ran to Blunden.

He took a touch before rifling it into the roof of the net.

The Magpies had chances to extend their lead too.

Another Blunden effort, this one from distance, needed tipped over the top by Saunders and a minute later a firm header from Chris Griffin drifted across goal and wide.

But after not really threatening, an Olly Butler header that was always going wide their only chance, suddenly Tring were level two minutes before half-time.

It was a quick break but Joe Naylor found it too easy to cut inside and along the edge of the box before a low shot to the left of Connor Sansom found the bottom corner.

The Magpies were out early for the restart, clearly the words and sentiment of the management team were short and needed no reinforcement.

And playing into the wind, as it so often turns out to be, wasn't that much of a curse. The balls forward were now holding up and giving the forwards a fighting chance of winning them.

Clements had their first chance after good interplay between him and Harry Lewis moments and although it went up and over it did show promise, promise that was realised in the 53rd minute.

There was hesitation in the defence and confusion from the keeper as a cross from O'Connor needed cleared off the line.

Clarke-Mardel was the only one moving in the middle and he guided his header into the back of the net.

But the lead only lasted three minutes and again it was a goal that will have annoyed manager Ryan Thompson as corner from the left was nodded home far too easily by Naylor.

Substitutions spoiled the flow of the game but both sides fancied their chances of grabbing a winner

A Jon Clements shot forced Saunders to scramble it behind at his near post while Sansom produced a fantastic diving save to tip a Tring effort behind, allowed the flag was up and it wouldn't have counted.

But with 12 minutes to go the Magpies were back in front for the third time, and this time there was no comeback.

Again the young goalkeeper will not look back fondly on it. A cross from Danny May was met by an overhead kick from Josh Humbert which looked good but lacked enough power.

But Saunders couldn't hold onto it and as he did for the first, Clarke-Mardel was the quickest to react and he poked it in off the post.

Late pressure came but never really threatened and there were plenty of cheers and punches of the air at the final whistle from the home support.

One big hurdle overcome for the Magpies.

Colney Heath: Sansom, May, Lewis (Sears-Black 56), Dudrenec, Lovell, Griffin, Woods (Devine 85), Clarke-Mardel, Clements, O'Connor (Humbert 76), Blunden.

Subs (not used): Devine, Westmore, Cobb.

Goals: Blunden 28, Clarke-Mardel 53, 78

Booked: Clarke-Mardel 21, Griffin 90+4

Tring Athletic: Saunders, Habashi, Terblanche (Sunderland 64), Foley (Asante 85), Barkers-Obua, McManus, Iroegbu (Salami 59), Nimoh, Ebonine, Butler, Naylor.

Subs (not used): O'Gorman.

Goals: Naylor 43, 56

Booked: Nimoh 61

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