Buckhurst Hill Reds in dogged victory
EJA Bishop Stortford 1 Buckhurst Hill 3
And so on our magical mystery tour around Hertfordshire in this league we de camped to Stortford- ensuring our cars turned left off the M11 rather than right and to Stansted – for a flight somewhere sunny J.
On what was a farmer’s field of a sloping pitch that did nothing for both teams in helping to play good football – it was the Hill who came through some resolute work, hard tackling and a few classy moves.
Hill had the best of the early moves with an early mistake from a Stortford goal kick landing at the feet of Maltese lurking 20 yards out. It’s a tribute to Maltese’s performances this season that most of the spectators thought he would score. And surely enough he moved forward, held off the defender and calmly slotted the ball in to the back of the net to make it 1-0 after 5 minutes.
A period of pressure from the Hill then saw a Burgess shot from 30 yards just go over the bar.
Osmond was threatening down the left, being fed a stream of passes by Ladyman at right back and Ryan and Jones and Camara Taylor were a very solid defensive unit against a strong and direct running set of attackers.
Ryan broke up one Stortford attack with great anticipation and then beat a couple of players to set up another Hill attack. Excellent work.
Ladyman then blocked a shot in his own 6 yard area and hacked the ball clear.
Casey & Osmond made some great runs in to space in the Stortford defence, stretching them to the limit and put in some A1 crosses that just failed to be converted. When we attacked down the wings the Hill looked very threatening.
This was a tough game though and James had to make excellent tackles throughout the game supported by Husaj who had to dive to his left and hold on to a rasping shot.
H/T came and the score was 1-0. All to play for.
The 2nd half carried on in the same format. Dogged football on a bumpy, sloping pitch, with occasional glimpses of footballing excellence from the Hill. Osmond had a shot saved, & Fuller & Burgess made some mind numbingly strong tackles to thwart attacks.. Kemp was working his socks off with Camara Taylor on the left side of the pitch- the 2 providing an excellent show in team working.
Then a defining moment – Fuller burst in to the Stortford penalty box, rounded the keeper, and coolly slotted in to the back of the net to make the score 2-0. A very well taken goal.
Maltese then taunted and teased & went past the Stortford defender and put in a rasping shot that the goalie did incredibly well to parry out – but unfortunately to the waiting Meade who prodded in from 4 yards. Looks easy but you need to make the runs and be in the right place at the right time and Meade had all these attributes. 3-0 to the Hill.
James made some more no nonsense defensive blocks, tackles and headers- and anything else he could get in the way. Kemp covered at left back to thwart another Stortford attack and the Hill were becoming increasingly difficult to break down.
However , just on full time an expertly taken free kick from Stortford allowed a glancing header in to the back of the net and make the final score 3-1.
This was hard fought, tough on the legs and not pretty but you need to be able to adapt your game to win and this the Hill did very well.
Let’s hope the farmer plants potatoes on this field quickly so no one has to play on it again.
Well worked Hill and good attitude.
