Berkhamsted 1xi 2 Cheshunt 1xi 4 

Berkhamsted 1's travelled to their fixture against second from bottom
Cheshunt 1's, full of confidence and riding high in the NE14Hockey East
3SW league table after three consecutive victory.

However, this
confidence should have been tempered by the absence of both of their
first choice central midfield partnership, with Savage joining long term
absentee Edwards on the injury list.

The game started brightly for Berkhamsted with Peter Allam scoring with his
second attempt at Berkhamsted's first short corner of the game after
Cheshunt's keeper parried his initial strike. Shortly afterwards, Jack Peplow
wasted a glorious chance to extend Berkhamsted's lead and despite
further strong attacks down Cheshunt's left, Berkhamsted's final passes
into the D were overly ambitious and the team failed to capitalise on
the early dominance they had exerted.

Gradually, a fired up Chestnut, clearly intent on avoiding an immedate
and ignominious return to the division 4SW,  began to have more of an
influence on the game, with Berkhamsted seeming having no answer to long
hits from within Cheshunt's half that, time after time, bypassed the
midfield to find an attacker in space. From these positions, Cheshunt
were able to expose Berkhamsted's lack of pace at the back and from a
long corner and a short corner, converted their pressure into a 2:1 lead
at half-time.

Despite stern words during half-time, Berkhamsted failed to address
their deficiencies and long balls continued to wreak havoc. Cheshunt
extended their lead from a short corner awarded after a comedy moment
from Berkhamsted keeper Jay Cremin, from which he was extremely fortunate to
remain the pitch. Cheshunt almost immediately scored a fourth goal, the
Berkhamsted defence split open by yet another long ball.

After the scorer of Cheshunt's fourth had been shown a yellow card for
aggressive and unsporting celebrations, Berkhamsted began to get back
into the game, and skipper James Barron poked the ball over the goal line to
score Berkhamsted's second. Both Duncan Hodges and David Westley flashed shots just
wide as the clock approached 70 minutes and Peter Allam wasted a good chance
to score his second. There was still time however, for Jack Peplow to receive
a yellow card for dissent, before the game ended with Cheshunt
victorious by four goals to two.

On reflection, whilst it was fractious game after which it would seem
unlikely that the opponents will be exchanging Christmas cards, it would
be churlish not to offer congratulations to a Cheshunt team whose
determination was the difference between the two sides.

The game's champagne moment was provided by Berkhamsted keeper Jay Cremin's
rant at the end of the game, which climaxed with Berkhamsted's outfield
players being sent scurrying off to warm down and to consider the error
of their ways.