LOCAL DERBY WIN CONTINUES OUR WINNING STREAK

Although only 15 miles separates us from Kings Langley this was only our 14th encounter against our close West Herts neighbours but one that was highly anticipated by both sets of supporters. Kings have had a mixed start to the season and came into the game in 8th place in the table but they have a strong squad and had a cracking result in midweek beating League leaders Risboro Rangers 2-1 with both goals scored by Louie Collier one of 4 ex Athletic players in their line up.

Despite the fact that this was only early October and that there was a lot of games left to play there was still a lot of local interest attached to the game with us hoping to extend our terrific run of results and our guests hoping to close the gap on the teams above. There was also the small matter of local bragging rights.

Bearing in mind the importance attached to the game by both teams it was unsurprising that the first half was a tight and tense affair with one or two meaty challenges thrown in and few scoring opportunities. Harry Shepherd headed down a pass from Max Hercules to George Devine who produced a nice volley which Kings keeper Hafed Al-Droubi dealt with quite comfortably. Soon afterwards on the quarter hour mark Max ran onto a lovely cross from brother Frankie but his volley went well wide.

Kings also had their moments when a nice move gave Kieran Turner a sight of goal but his shot was straight at Jake Alley. There was a tense moment for us when a cross from Jack Tompkins went unclaimed after it came off Frankie and flew across our area. We had plenty of possession but with Kings defending deep and in numbers it meant space was at a premium and clearing scoring opportunities were absent so it was no surprise that the first half ended scoreless. HT Score 0-0.

Kicking towards our favoured end we changed the pattern of the game after the break and produced a dominant second half performance with Max playing a prominent role as we quickly raced into a commanding two goal lead.

Nine minutes into the half had gone when Dylan Fitzpatrick and Max combined down the left which led to a sumptuous cross from the latter which picked out George Devine who stole in and headed the ball past the keeper. It was a crucial break through as the first goal was always going to be important. Score 1-0.

Max fired a shot just wide of the post and then in the 58th minute he produced a lovely slide rule pass to send Harry Shepherd through. Shep still had a lot to do but kept his cool to fire the ball past the keeper and in off the post to give us a 2 goal lead. Score 2-0.

We were now very much on top and in the 66th minute Jack Harvey and Eli Hearn set up Shep who rounded the keeper and slipped a tempting ball across the area which was cleared by defender. From the resulting corner Tommy Smith saw his towering header cleared off the line.

Both teams made substitutions with Kings showing more attacking intent but our defence was solid and when needed Jake Alley commanded his area from set pieces and crosses so our opponents create few chances of note.

Ryan and his team then brought on Blake Argent in the 72nd minute and within a minute it paid off handsomely. Max again was the instigator picking the ball up around the half way line and then exchanging passes with Harry Jones before crossing to Blake who tapped home from close range for his opening goal of the season. Score 3-0.

There was still 17 minutes plus added time left but we looked in control and confidently saw the game for a terrific win. FT Score 3-0.

This was a brilliant performance and result against a very good team and although Kings have had some mixed results they have a lot of talent and it will be surprising if they are not competing for promotion at the end of the season.

This win extends our winning run to 6 games, during which we scored 17 goals and conceding just 1. Defensively we look so strong with DOC, Tiny and Caden looking solid in central defence backed up by Eli, Dylan and Mase at full back. We are also banging in the goals and over the last 5 games we have scored an average of 3.2 goals per game.

Of course these are still early days and there will be tough challenges ahead but at the moment Ryan and his Coaching team can take a great of satisfaction of where we are at the moment.

It was also great to see a crowd of 313 at the game which is our highest gate since the semi-final of the playoffs in April 2025 and lets hope we can exceed that this coming Saturday 10 October when we entertain Kennington from Kent in the FA Vase (First Round Proper).

Finally Man of the Match was Max who was chosen by Match Sponsor Bennie Mitchell of MB Carpentry. Max has certainly been in stunning form with 8 Goals and 10 Assists from 11 appearances so long may this continue.

TEAM
TA: Jake Alley, Eli Hearn (Mason Clarke 82), Dylan Fitzpatrick, David O’Connor (Caden Barber 77) Tommy Smith, Jack Harvey (Capt), Luke Peerless, Frankie Hercules (Jack Stone 79), Harry Shepherd (Blake Argent 72), George Devine (Harry Jones 68), Max Hercules.

Scorers:

TA: George Devine (54), Harry Shepherd (58), Blake Argent (73)

KL: -

Crowd: 313

MoM: Max Hercules