This was always going to be a tough game as suggested by our recent results against visitors Harpenden – and so it proved.

Harpenden made a fast start and were obviously looking to reverse their indifferent start to the season. They played a high energy game and gave the lads little time to settle and establish their trademark passing football. During the initial phase of the game the visitors looked increasingly dangerous as the clocked ticked on, whilst Tring struggled to find their rhythm and get into the game. Harpenden capitalised on a defensive mistake on 23min and deservingly took the lead.

The goal galvanised Tring and the lads immediately got back to their passing ways and started to play some good attacking football, putting the visitors under a period of pressure that really deserved a goal or two. On 26mins Jones had a header cleared off the line and a goal mouth scramble on 30mins really should have resulted in a Tring goal. Doc also had a great header from a corner just narrowly miss the top corner. Despite the pressure being applied by Tring it was the visitors who got the next goal on 40mins, capitalising once again on a defensive error.
So, 0-2 at half time but we could so easily have been level if chances had been taken.

The second half saw Harpenden happy to sit back and protect their lead, handing the initiative to Tring. Space was at a premium in the Harpenden half, and they were very quick to close down. This made it difficult to carve out chances but the lads worked extremely hard to create a number of opportunities to get back in to the game. In particular, Harry had a great chance on 55mins when he cut in from the left but his shot from an angle was just wide. However, Harpenden continued to be a threat when they did come forward and scored their third goal on 75mins when they won possession on the edge of the area and the striker took the ball on and drill it into the bottom corned for a 0-3 lead.
To their credit the lads did not give up and continued to press to get something out of the game. A flurry of late chances saw Jacko score with a header that went in off the post. However, it was too little, too late and at the final whistle we went down 1 – 3.

Whilst disappointing, there were many positives to be taken from this game. The lads played some good football at times against a tough opponent. They created a number of great chances that had they been taken would have seen a different outcome for sure. Certainly the level of effort and commitment shown was a credit to the team. Ultimately, we gifted the visitors two goals in the first half and it’s always going to be difficult when that happens. However, we must take the positives out of this game and take them into the next game against Everett Rovers. Onwards!