On a very pleasant and sunny October afternoon Berkhamsted made their way to Chertsey to play fellow conference new boys, Thames Valley. Berkhamsted only had 10 men and were grateful that Thames Valley lend them a player who turned out to be very useful.
After an even opening, Berkhamsted took the lead when Oli Rogers set Nick Cave fee down the left and his cross was flicked home at the near post by Brian de Mattos. Shortly afterwards Thames Valley failed to clear from a Berkhamsred attack and the guest player, Tom, picked up the loose ball, beat a defender and scored easily for 2-0. Tom increased his unpopularity with his clubmates by making a clever run right to the byeline before crossing and giving Alex Winwright possibly the shortest range goal ever seen, tapping in from about an inch. Berkhamsted started the second half slowly but after good work again from Oli Rogers to create the chance, the ball bounced off a defender and Brian de Mattos flicked the ball into the roof of the net. Thames Valley were not put off by this rather cruel scoreline and continued to put Berkhamsted under pressure and this paid off when a cross was deflected by a Berkhamsted stick to their young forward who scored. Berkhamsted’s attacks became more sporadic although Thames Valley keeper made a good save from John King, but Thames Valley were getting more short corners and scored from one of them with a fine reverse stick shot. Right at the end Thames Valley scored a third but there was no time left for a restart, so Berkhamsted held on to win 4-3. This was a very enjoyable game and bodes well for our season in the Conference.
Result: Thames Valley 3 Berkhamsted 4
Scorers: Brian de Mattos 2, Alex Winwright, Guest
|
Men 
