Saturday 16th July – Pre-season friendly – Colney Heath Recreation Ground
Hinton 1 Colney Heath XI 1 Hinton faced a tough test against a Colney Heath team that included a mixture of reserves, trialists and a couple of first team players (who play in the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division). It was another boiling hot day and unlike last week the game was played with two traditional 45 minute halves. Hinton set up with a 4-4-1-1 formation and needed to keep their shape and discipline at the start of the game. The first twenty minutes were extremely challenging, as Colney kept possession well and played at a high intensity which we really struggled to cope with. Their clever movement allowed them to find space in key areas and both centre forwards were lively. Carroll was forced into a couple of saves and our back four were really being stretched. It was no surprise when Colney took the lead around the twenty minute mark when a through ball resulted in a race between Thenesh and their forward and the defender inadvertently diverted the ball high into his own net when trying to clear the danger. It was an unfortunate goal but no more than our hosts deserved. For the next ten minutes the game continued in a similar manner, with sloppy passing from us and intelligent attacking play almost creating a second goal. To our credit we made some excellent last ditch tackles and for the final fifteen minutes of the half we stepped up our performance level considerably. Despite the opposition looking very dangerous going forward, they appeared to be vulnerable defensively and they started to give away cheap corners under pressure. We began to limit the time and space that Colney had on the ball and our direct passing, particularly down the right wing involving new player Prendergast, created a few half chances for us. Langley was given the perfect opportunity to equalise from the penalty spot when a cross was fired at the defender and he was adjudged to have handled the ball. Unfortunately for Hinton his penalty was struck tamely and the keeper palmed the ball away to safety. The remainder of the half was played out with Hinton in the ascendency but we did not create much more and found ourselves one down at the break. Manager Mick Clarke rung the changes at half time as he took advantage of a squad size around eighteen to ensure that everyone had the chance to impress. One of the substitutes Abu Suma started well in central defence but had to be replaced by Clarke early into his debut after picking up a knee injury in an innocuous challenge as he saw the ball out of play. The second half proved to be quite an even affair, with both sides going close on a few occasions and Hinton looked most likely to break the deadlock through Langley, whose trickery created many problems in the Colney defence. The hosts were becoming increasingly frustrated with themselves as the game wore on, as they were unable to replicate the slick passing game they enjoyed in the first half hour and instead found themselves embroiled in a scrappy battle with a side they expected to beat comfortably. Hinton had Carroll to thank when he managed to claw an instinctive shot onto the bar before it was hacked off the line by Clarke. The home side did create a few other chances, including a volley hit by ex Hinton Reserve player Scott Little which narrowly went wide. In general though we grew in confidence and started to press higher up the pitch. We were rewarded in the dying moments of the game when an inviting cross from Payton had the keeper in all sorts of trouble and the covering defender was unable to prevent Bartlett from diverting the ball over the line from close range. The game ended in a 1-1 draw and despite the fact that the results are not particularly important in pre-season games, nevertheless we have gained great confidence after matching a side who included players that play at a considerably higher level. Colney’s assistant manager was clearly far from impressed with his side’s performance after the game but also gave us a lot of credit for a decent display. Below : Bartlett can be seen celebrating after his finish.
0 Comments
Saturday 9th July – Pre-season friendly – Edmonton County Astro turf pitch
Hinton 0 Broomfield 1 Hinton began their preparations for the new season with a narrow defeat to Broomfield of the Southern Amateur league. The squad was managed by Phil Maiden in in the absence of Mick Clarke and refereed by our centre half Puchalla, who was unavailable for selection due to injury. In the pre match team talk Maiden emphasised the importance of retaining possession and opted to start with a 4-5-1 formation. The game was split into three thirty minute periods. In the first thirty we started slowly despite our pre match instructions and were guilty of taking too many touches and gifting possession to our opponents. Broomfield found themselves in some promising attacking positions but fortunately did not manage to create the first goal and Carroll only needed to make a couple of routine saves. We had a couple of efforts from distance but also failed to really test the opposition keeper. After an honest assessment of our disappointing start we came out for the second thirty rejuvenated and began to pass the ball with greater care and play with a higher intensity. Our back four of Fleming, Perren, Clarke and Burford were looking fairly comfortable and we began to create good chances by getting down the flanks, with Collier, Bartlett and McGowan all unable to convert when in promising positions. Broomfield did threaten briefly when Carroll was forced into tipping the ball over his crossbar from a long range effort. Against the run of play with around ten minutes of the second period remaining Hinton paid for their missed chances and went behind to a comical goal. Broomfield broke away after our corner was cleared and Clarke was left in a 2 v 1 situation. As other defenders frantically raced back the forwards fluffed their lines twice, before a weak cross found its way to the striker who smashed the ball home from a yard out. Hinton continued to press after this but were unable to equalise and the second thirty was brought to a close. The final period of play was again dominated by Hinton and we created more excellent chances, including Bartlett striking the post when clean through. He had worked tirelessly throughout but should really have scored at least two goals. Broomfield didn’t really threaten a second goal and Spallin, Kettle and Langley were all working hard in central midfield to try and create the equaliser. We dominated possession again but the play became slightly hurried and Broomfield saw the last ten minutes of the game out fairly comfortably compared to the previous pressure they had endured. Overall it was a disappointing result but an encouraging performance for the last hour and a useful workout in boiling conditions. |
AuthorPublished by Ollie Kettle. Archives
September 2017
Categories |