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Results 18th Dec

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NeutralFan Newbie

NeutralFan

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Originally Posted By: Horace


Hoddy report for comparison.... I'm sure FM as a Neutral will point you towards the more accurate one! blush

HERTFORD TOWN 6 HODDESDON TOWN 2
East Anglian Cup, Second Round
Tuesday 18th December 2007


FORTUNE FAVOURS HERTFORD IN AN ENTERTAINING CUP TIE.

This game was nothing like as one-sided as the final scoreline might suggest, Hoddesdon were on top for most of the second half despite being three first half goals down, and on the night lady luck was certainly on the side of the home team. A flurry of late goals gave the final score its lop-sided appearance, but the Hoddesdon lads can be pleased with their overall performance which was a tremendous improvement over what they had served up the previous Saturday.

Hoddesdon dominated the early exchanges and were knocking the ball around well, and Hertford’s first goal nine minutes into the game came totally out of the blue. A cross from the Hertford left found Lee Roberts whose speculative effort looked to have been clawed away by Chris Fitkin, but despite the ‘keeper’s partial intervention the ball looped over him and crawled into the net. 9 minutes, 1-0. A minute later, in a scramble just inside the Hoddesdon penalty area, a Hertford player who was on the ground and clearly in an offside position right in front of goal, got up and became active as the ball was chipped over the Lilywhites back line. When no flag came Ryan Redford took full advantage and worked the ball round the stranded Chris Fitkin before slotting it into an empty net. 10 minutes 2-0. Hoddesdon had every right to protest about what was a shocking error of judgement by the Match Officials, but to the amazement of everyone at the ground the goal was allowed to stand.

With sixteen minutes gone Hoddesdon had a good opportunity to reduce the arrears when, from the left, the ball was worked into Peter Ulatowski fifteen yards from goal. Instead of taking a shot himself he made one more pass to the right from where Nick Newbury scuffed the ball just wide of the far post. On the half hour Ryan Redford broke clear for the home side, and only a superb piece of defensive play from both Lee Knight and Damien Thomas prevented him from extending the lead. Redford was to have a hand in Hertford’s third goal when it came five minutes before half time, he raced into to the right hand side of the penalty area before hitting a low cross into the middle. Kevin Cooper should have made no mistake from twelve yards but he completely mis-hit the ball and it fortuitously fell into the path of Lee Roberts coming in from the left who drove it home. 40 minutes, 3-0.

The half time score of 3-0 really did flatter the home side who had looked good in patches but had been well contained by some resolute defending. From the start of the second half Hoddesdon looked very sharp, and inside two minutes Peter Ulatowski smashed a terrific effort from twenty-five yards and just cleared the Hertford crossbar. The only action Chris Fitkin saw for a good thirty-five minutes of the half came on the hour when he dived to keep out a good, low cross from his left, and Mark Teasdale was on hand to clear away the loose ball. Having dominated the play for twenty minutes of the second half Hoddesdon finally claimed their reward when ANDY MARTIN got on the end of a great free kick from Mark Teasdale on the right and squeezed home a header at the far post. 65 minutes, 3-1.

At this point the game was very evenly poised and the Referee had to try and keep the lid on the action as one or two of the Hertford tempers became a little frayed. The Lilywhites were really giving the home side a run for their money, but they didn’t have quite enough cutting edge up front to trouble their hosts where it really hurt. In the sixty-seventh minute Craig Hinton came on to replace Nick Newbury, and his fresh legs did help to give Hoddesdon a little more impetus. With twenty minutes still remaining Peter Ulatowski picked up the pieces after some great work from Richard Howard on the left, and from fully thirty-yards he hit a superb effort that flew across the face of the Hertford goal and missed the far post by a fraction with the ‘keeper totally beaten. Had that chance gone in the Hoddesdon tails would have been well and truly up. At this point in the game Shaun Dyer replaced Richard Howard.

There were only two minutes of normal time remaining on the clock when Hoddesdon were caught out pushing hard for a second goal, and Ryan Redford’s pass found Ross Collins who gave Chris Fitkin no chance from close range. 88 minutes, 4-1. A minute later the lead was reduced to two goals again when MATT SPIERS cut in from the left and hammered a shot into the roof of the Hertford net. 89 minutes 4-2. The Referee then indicated that there were still nearly six minutes left on his watch, and before two of those minutes had gone Hertford restored their three goal lead. The Match Official was truly conned by a laughable dive from Ryan Redford as he was challenged just inside the area, and Lee Roberts hammered home the resulting penalty to secure his hat-trick. 90+2 minutes, 5-2. The final goal came six minutes into time added on when Redford got the best of the awkwardly bouncing and bobbling ball and weaved his way round Damien Thomas before notching his second goal. 90+6 minutes, 6-2.

The final scoreline does not truly tell the story of a game in which Hoddesdon had an even share of the possession, and were as much beaten by a lack of the rub of the green as their hosts’ style of play. There were certainly two absolute howlers by the Match Officials that led to Hertford goals, and two of the strikes lent themselves more to good fortune than to anything else. For Hoddesdon, this game was more about the performance than the result, and whilst there were some areas of their play that still gave cause for concern, it was a really heartening display for the Hoddesdon faithful who had gone along to watch. It was a difficult decision in choosing the Hoddesdon man-of-the-match, Damien Thomas and Lee Knight were excellent in the heart of the defence, Aaron Tourlamain looked to be back in form after a three match lay-off and Matt Spiers buzzed about industriously, but it was right back Mark Teasdale who shaded the award with a solid performance and some decent service into the middle from wide on the right.

Hoddesdon Town 18 12 07
Chris Fitkin, Mark Teasdale, Kevin Metivier, Damien Thomas©, Lee Knight (Adam Arnold, 89), Aaron Tourlamain, Matt Spiers, Richard Howard (Shaun Dyer, 71), Peter Ulatowski, Andy Martin, Nick Newbury (Craig Hinton, 67)
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Rhodes Grand Master

Rhodes

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Originally Posted By: NeutralFan
The final scoreline does not truly tell the story of a game in which Hoddesdon had an even share of the possession, and were as much beaten by a lack of the rub of the green as their hosts’ style of play

I'll be interested to see whether this paragraph is confirmed as fact!
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blues06 Newbie

blues06

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hoddys match reports crack me up!!

i remember wen i played for them against hanwell a few years ago and we got tonked 4-1 and it easily could have been 7-1! the report was saying how we were clearly the better side and how we deserved 3 points, i felt embaressed!

 

wat makes me laugh is that they gave teasdale man of the match, he plays right back and hertfords left winger scores a hat trick, eeerrrrr........!

no disrespect to teasdale, a quality player!

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Rhodes Grand Master

Rhodes

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Originally Posted By: HTFCew
Stony Stratford Town 2-3 Royston Town

I wonder how many members predicted that Royston would win at Stony Stratford last night, not many I bet. I'll be interested to read a match report.
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Lato Newbie

Lato

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Originally Posted By: Rhodes
Originally Posted By: HTFCew
Stony Stratford Town 2-3 Royston Town

I wonder how many members predicted that Royston would win at Stony Stratford last night, not many I bet. I'll be interested to read a match report.


I did biggrin1 biggrin1

To paraphrase someone it was the obvious result really.
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Rhodes Grand Master

Rhodes

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You got home from work virtually bang on 6.00 today then.

Yes I predicted 2-1 to Royston, it must have been a hell of a game.

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