Tring Athletic FC 2 - 1 Aylesbury Vale Dynamos

Note: Match report prepared by Sam Webber, who joins us to help on the media side of things - welcome to the club Sam.

Saturday 25th March- A huge win for the boys!

Tring Athletic grabbed a well-deserved 2-1 victory over Aylesbury Vale Dynamos at home to move above our opponents in the table.

After a tough draw to Baldock last week, the boys were back at the Grassroots Stadium for a home fixture in the Spartan South Midlands League against local rivals Aylesbury Vale Dynamos.

Tring came out of the gates with their usual vigour, firing the first shot of the match and generally putting on much more pressure than their opponents in the opening minutes of the match. Tring had two opportunities within the opening 5 minutes, with the best chance coming from a corner that was narrowly headed over.

The pressure was telling, and there were shouts for a penalty in the 14th minute after a clumsy challenge on Jack Harvey in the opponents box. However, the ref waved away the calls and the game continued.

But the pressure finally told in the 17th minute when Seppe threaded a glorious pass through on the left hand side of the pitch to Frankie Hercules, who cut in from the wing and into the box, before slipping the ball onto his right foot and slotting a calm and collected finish into the back of the net to give Tring a deserved lead.

The goal seemed to wake Aylesbury up, and meant that the focus was put on to the defence for the following fifteen minutes. The tring defence reacted well to this, however, with Harrison Cornick putting in some brilliant tackles in particular.

However, there was little Tring could have done to stop the Aylesbury equaliser, which came from a well-worked ball into the box following a corner for Aylesbury that was headed past Todd in the Tring goal to make the score 1-1.

Tring picked themselves up from this setback, and continued to push to regain the lead for the last minutes of the half, and came close when Seppe headed just wide in the 42nd minute, which was the closest either team came to pushing ahead before the ref called for half time. At 1-1, it seemed a fitting reflection on the quality of both teams in the first half, as well as in the league this season.

However, Tring came out in the second half more determined than ever, with Cornick having a shot blocked on the 51st minute that then fell to Peerless, whose shot was kept out well by the Aylesbury keeper.

For the opening 20 minutes of the half, that was the best chance for either team, with Tring retaining more of the possession and attacking threat; which told when in the 67th minute Seppe nodded home a lovely header from a Jack Harvey cross that has to much power on it for the Keeper to stop from crossing the line and returning the lead Tring.

Tring weren’t settling for less here either, as they didn’t rest on their laurels and just defend, with Mead having a shot saved before Seppe managed to win the ball back from the defenders and had a 1-on-1 with the keeper that was poked narrowly wide.

There was still time for some Todd heroics however, as an Aylesbury shot was well saved by the keeper to keep the lead for Tring, at a crucial stage of the match.

After a nervy end to the match, where Aylesbury did start to put pressure on the defence, the final whistle blew, and Tring deservedly sealed a win. Man of the match could have gone to quite a few players truthfully, with standouts including Harrison Cornick who was especially solid at the back, or to Seppe who achieved a deserved goal as well as an assist for the opener. However, man of the match goes to Frankie Hercules, who was a constant positive force for Tring and took his goal very well.

The win moves us up to 11th in the table, with a visit from 12th place Harpenden town the next match for the boys on Tuesday.

Also, a big shout out to 77-year-old lifelong Bury fan Jim Murray, who came down to watch us play after enjoying the match we played in the FA vase cup so much!