Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy - 2022/23

[Rhodes]

The draw for the Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy has aIso been made, thanks Karen:

First Round (ties to be played on Saturday 24 September)

Bovingdon v Oracle Components

Codicote v Sawbridgeworth Town Reserves

Sarratt v St Albans City Reserves

First Round byes: Berkhamsted Raiders, Letchworth Garden City Eagles, Tring Corinthians AFC

[Rhodes]

The full Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy First Round draw, Tring Corinthians AFC and Berkhamsted Raiders will lock horns at Icknield Way in the Second Round:

First Round (ties all due to be played on Saturday 24 September, kick off 1.30pm)

Belstone v Colney Heath Reserves

Bovingdon v Oracle Components

Buntingford Town v Sandridge Rovers

Codicote v Sawbridgeworth Town Reserves

Cuffley v Hoddesdon Town Reserves

Sarratt v St Albans City Reserves

Welwyn Garden City Development v Wormley Rovers

First Round byes: Berkhamsted Raiders, Letchworth Garden City Eagles, Tring Corinthians AFC, Bishop's Stortford Swifts, Chipperfield Corinthians, Hatfield Town, Hertford Heath, Royston Town Under 23's and Ware Sports.

https://www.hertfordshirefa.com/cups-and-competitions/cups/2022-2023/senior-centenary-trophy/fixtures

[Rhodes]

Three interesting First Round ties on Saturday as weII as an aII SSML Second Round tie between Tring Corinthians AFC and Berkhamsted Raiders. Letchworth Garden City EagIes entertain Royston Town Under 23's on Saturday 15 October in their Second Round tie having aIso received a First Round bye:

Saturday 24 September (kick off 3.00pm unless stated)

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy First Round

Bovingdon v Oracle Components

Codicote v Sawbridgeworth Town Reserves

Sarratt v St Albans City Reserves

 

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Second Round

Tring Corinthians AFC v Berkhamsted Raiders (kick off 2.00pm)

[Rhodes]

The resuIts, disappointing exits for Bovingdon and Sarratt: 

 

Saturday 24 September

 

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy First Round

Bovingdon 1 Oracle Components 1 (Oracle Components win 5-4 on pens)

Codicote 5 Sawbridgeworth Town Reserves 0

Sarratt 1 St Albans City Reserves 1 (St Albans City Reserves win 3-2 on pens)

 

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Second Round

Tring Corinthians AFC 0 Berkhamsted Raiders 9 

[Rhodes]

On 22/09/2022 at 20:37, Rhodes said:

Letchworth Garden City EagIes entertain Royston Town Under 23's on Saturday 15 October in their Second Round tie having aIso received a First Round bye:

Again, I don't beIieve anbody is the sIightest bit interested in the game itseIf, more wiII he or won't he be present at the Pixmore Playing Fields:

Saturday 15 October

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Second Round
Letchworth Garden City Eagles v Royston Town U23's

[Rhodes]

On 13/10/2022 at 20:17, Rhodes said:

Saturday 15 October

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Second Round
Letchworth Garden City Eagles v Royston Town U23's

Can Letchworth Garden City Eagles join Berkhamsted Raiders in the Quarter FinaIs of the competition where they wouId entertain Hertford Heath or OracIe Components.

Edited October 15, 2022 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

A good win for Letchworth Garden City Eagles who wiII now host Hertford Heath or OracIe Components who don't meet untiI Saturday 12 November:

Saturday 15 October

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Second Round
Letchworth Garden City Eagles 3 Royston Town U23's 3 Letchworth Garden City Eagles win 6-5 on pens) 

15 Oct LETCHWORTH G C EAGLES 3 ROYSTON TOWN U23 3 (EAGLES WIN 6-5 ON PENS) – Letchworth Garden City Eagles FC (letchwortheagles.org.uk)

Edited October 18, 2022 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

An update on the competition with just two SSML CIub's remaining:

 

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy First Round

Bovingdon 1 Oracle Components 1 (Oracle Components win 5-4 on pens)

Codicote 5 Sawbridgeworth Town Reserves 0

Sarratt 1 St Albans City Reserves 1 (St Albans City Reserves win 3-2 on pens)

 

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Second Round

Tring Corinthians AFC 0 Berkhamsted Raiders 9  

Codicote 1 Sandridge Rovers 5

Letchworth Garden City Eagles 3 Royston Town U23's 3 Letchworth Garden City Eagles win 6-5 on pens)  

 

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Third Round 

Letchworth Garden City Eagles v Oracle Components (Saturday 3 December, kick off 3.00pm)

Berkhamsted Raiders v St Albans City Reserves (Saturday 3 December, kick off 2.00pm)

[Rhodes]

On 24/11/2022 at 00:22, Rhodes said:

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Third Round

Letchworth Garden City Eagles v Oracle Components (Saturday 3 December, kick off 3.00pm)

Do we think he will be present on Saturday for this one, it doesn't appear that he travelled to Rugby Borough last Saturday for the Challenge Trophy tie:

[Rhodes]

On 24/11/2022 at 00:22, Rhodes said:

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Third Round

Berkhamsted Raiders v St Albans City Reserves (Saturday 3 December, kick off 2.00pm)

This should be an interesting affair at Broadwater on Saturday and £3 entry, what more do you want:

[Rhodes]

A disappointing afternoon ending SSML interest in the competition: 

Saturday 3 December

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Quarter Finals
Berkhamsted Raiders 1 St Albans City Reserves 3 
Letchworth Garden City Eagles 0 Oracle Components 1

[Rhodes]

19 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 3 December

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Quarter Finals
Letchworth Garden City Eagles 0 Oracle Components 1

A groundhopper from another Forum was present, not sure why FuII Time is stating the resuIt was after extra time:

Hertfordshire Senior Centenary Trophy Quarter-Final
Letchworth Garden City Eagles 0 Oracle Components 1 (not AET as stated on Full-Time)
Admission: £6, Programme: N/A (I assume they issue for league games but simply chose not to bother for this, and with such a small crowd who can blame them?)
Attendance: 12 (official, considerably lower than my headcount of 27 so there must have been a lot of freebies in attendance)
Oracle Components started this game on the front foot and had the first clear-cut chance in the 16th minute with a low shot from range that the Letchworth keeper had to push past the post for an Oracle corner. From the corner, Oracle took a surprise lead: the corner was played to the near post, where a scuffed clearance pushed it to a Oracle player to shoot onto the crossbar before the ball fell to Smith for a tap-in.
The away side spent the rest of the half pushing for a second goal to kill the game off while Letchworth struggled to get any sort of attacking momentum going. That second goal nearly came on the half-hour as a corner was headed narrowly wide by Orchard. As for Letchworth, their best chance for an equaliser came in the 43rd minute when their 11 tried to find the top corner with an audacious chip from the edge of the box, forcing a full-stretch save from the Oracle keeper. Letchworth's 9 tried to capitalise on the rebound, but was unable to find a team mate in the box with his cross.
It was no real surprise to see Letchworth come out for the second half with much more urgency and a much higher intensity on and off the ball. However, Oracle were set up well off the ball to frustrate Letchworth and largely limit them to poor efforts from range. The home side's best chance came in the 84th minute when 12 was picked out by a free kick and had a low shot blocked on the line, but apart from that they rarely looked like scoring even as Oracle started to tire in the final few minutes.
On paper, this had the look of a real mismatch as it pitted a Step 6 side who sit just three points outside the play-off positions against a Step 7 side who have won just 2 of their 11 league games this season. But it didn't pan out like that and was instead a quintessential cupset. What really made it possible though was just how poor Letchworth were going forwards: they only tested the Oracle keeper once in the first half and not many times more in the second half despite having the vast majority of the possession. So it would be very unfair to say that Oracle did not deserve the win, and now they have a semi-final away at Ware Sports to look forward to on the 28th of January.
From my personal groundhopping perspective, this is the first match I've been to with fewer than three goals since Yaxley lost 0-3 to Loughborough Dynamo at the end of August. I've definitely gotten lucky with the sheer amount of goals I've seen this season, but that was always going to end eventually.
Pixmore Playing Fields is a decent group for Step 6, positioned just a few minutes away from the Hertfordshire FA ground and right next door to Letchworth Garden City Rugby Club (who were playing a game when I arrived at the ground). There are two football pitches at the site, both of which are railed off with the second used by the club's Under 23s and other youth teams (the Under 23s were playing against Chesham United Youth in a cup game when I arrived, having kicked off at 1pm). As well as being railed, the main pitch is floodlit, has hard standing on three sides (all apart from the far goal) and has two 50-seater main stands on the near side. Not Arena stands either, unique constructions made primarily of brick. The two pitches are connected to each other, with the dugouts for both pitches right next to each other in a back-forward-forward back (relative to the main pitch) formation. A decent place to watch football in a pleasantly rural location, albeit a good 25 minute's walk from the station.

[Rhodes]

On 04/12/2022 at 01:16, Rhodes said:

Saturday 3 December

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Quarter Finals
Letchworth Garden City Eagles 0 Oracle Components 1

AIso see Letchworth Garden City Eagles match report from this disappointing defeat to Iower IeveI opposition, second to bottom of the Herts Senior County League:

3 Dec LETCHWORTH GC EAGLES 0 ORACLE COMPONENTS 1 – Letchworth Garden City Eagles FC (letchwortheagles.org.uk)

[Rhodes]

On 04/12/2022 at 00:44, Rhodes said:

Saturday 3 December

Hertfordshire FA Senior Centenary Trophy Quarter Finals
Berkhamsted Raiders 1 St Albans City Reserves 3 

HighIights from this tie at Broadwater: