Saturday 28th January 2006 Broxbourne Mens 1s v Havering Result 1-1: Report by Dick Ramsgood

Broxbourne went into this game after a double giant killing, and could be forgiven for thinking this would be a walkover. A below-par warm-up in strange surroundings was reflected in Broxbourne's slow start to the match. The presence of Paul Dover in the midfield was like a red rag to a bull, and Havering started the game in a very physical nature. The umpires did not know how to handle this, and were ultimately at fault for not bringing some order to the game. Dover however took the initiative to give a couple of the players a lesson in rough and tumble. Despite not having much chance to display our hockey skills, Broxbourne's class finally showed up when a large number of the team assisted in providing the ball to Tony Traill in the 20th minute. Traill had plenty of time but chose to take the more difficult option of producing a tomahawk shot which surpassed anything that the centre forwards had to offer all game. Taking a 1-0 lead into half time, the team were told that they'd have to step up their game if they were to finish with all 3 points. Unfortunately the words fell on deaf ears, literally in Rob Dyers case, as he fluffed an open goal, and blazed high on another decent opportunity. With the greater percentage of possession, Broxbourne were surprised when Havering produced an equaliser, firstly allowing a wonderful save off birthday boy Alex Ford who could do little with the rebound. The dominance from Broxbourne meant nothing without being able to add the decisive goal and the chance to do this fell to Dan Nearney. Nearney has been off his game for some time now, but seemed to be making amends when he sprinted through the defence, toyed with the sweeper and rounded the keeper. It would have been a 2-1 victory had it not been for a small black dog running onto the pitch and tripping him up as he swung his stick towards the ball. The resulting bully-off was the last touches of the game and Broxbourne were disappointed to come away from the game with only one point. Possession means nothing if you can't produce an end result, and Broxbourne will be training hard to get back the goal-scoring form they had at the beginning of the season. Team: Ford, Sterling-Brown, Ware, Evans, Hopson, Hill, Traill, Dover, Long, Dyer, Robinson. Sub: Nearney. Next week the Badgers entertain Blueharts at Mill Lane.

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