by Submitting match reports to r.s.s. is habit forming. Went home for
my Mum's 50th birthday bash, and in the lull between the jelly and ice
cream and the blind man's bluff, went down to the cauldron-like atmosphere
of the Broadhall Way ground, just now benefitting from Stevenage's
prominent place atop the Diadora League (okay okay, I only went because
they're doing well now, so I'm a part-timer. But I was there at Christmas
when things weren't going so good, and they lost the local derby against
Hitchin). Some recent local council corruption was paying for new terraces
on two sides of the ground, money being mysteriously found despite
schools falling down and old-folks being kicked out and sent back to
their kids.
Found a good viewpoint among the two thousand odd crowd (including
loud Enfield support under newly roofed area close to tea hut) but was
dismayed to find myself standing behind my old Maths teacher, who didn't
recognise me, thank God. Pitch a bit boggy, with many sand patches, and
kick off delayed to allow all the fans time to get in (WOW !). Stevenage
side included on-loan keeper to replace injured regular, and Brian Stein
of Luton Town's League Cup winning side from yesteryear (scored the winner
against Arsenal, ah ha ha ha hah, I remember it well). Enfield had
somebody called St.Hilaire on the bench - would that be Vince St.Hilaire,
of Crystal Palace 'team of the eighties' fame, anybody know ? They also
had an ex-Stevenage player, Bailey, recieving constant barracking from the
home support. And someone called Roberts in central defence looking dead
old, grey haired, and long in the tooth. Don't know a lot of the player's
names, so this match description is going to sound quite vague.
My general memory of the first half was of both sides giving away
possession all the time, much like the 3rd division, only a lot slower.
Now and then, a good move would emerge from the melee. Enfield would either
get the ball out to their left winger, or their midfield maestro would
run the ball at or across the Stevenage defence. The Enfield L.W. got past
the dozy Stevenage R.B. 4 or 5 times, but his crosses were poor, and
Enfield's corners did not threaten much. Enfield's C.F. had one clear
header from a cross by the midfield maestro, but the C.F. did not connect
with it very well.
As for Stevenage, they attempted to play 5-a-side style down the
channels between defenders, but with little success, perhaps because the
pitch was clogging both ball and feet. Leading the way were centre half
called (by the crowd) Smudger and right winger called (by the crowd)
Inchey, I think. Stein was also working hard, mainly to keep up with the
others (he's on a hundred pounds per goal - the manager usually takes him
off after he's scored, because the club can't afford more than that). A
few corners were won and wasted, but the highlights of the first half were
a shot from the edge of the box by Inchey which scraped the outside of the
post, and when when Smudger went clean through on goal and delicately
flicked the ball over the diving keeper and, unfortunately, the crossbar.
Enfield had an early chance when they broke the offside trap, but the
pitch held the ball up and the Enfield player got it caught between his
legs, so the Stevenage defenders were ale to get back in time.
During half time, the P.A. system relayed the Grand National. All
we could hear where I was standing was "mumble mumble mumble Moorcroft Boy
rhubharb rhubharb rhubarb Moorcroft Boy prubl drubl drubl Moorcroft
Boy...", so a bloke in front of me and my old Maths teacher who'd had a bet
on Moorcroft Boy was, quite naturally, getting pretty e***d. I think his
dissappointment at the end of the race was the most entertaining part of
the afternoon. Either that, or the moment in the second half when the
crowd went strangely quiet, and we all heard the ref shout at Bailey "For
***'s sake stop behaving like a ***ing baby."
Into the second half, and things were pretty even. The Stevenage
R.B. had woken up and was closing down his side of the field, so Enfield's
only penetration was coming from the midfield maestro down the other side.
The old grey-haired bloke in Enfield's defence was playing well and
restricting attacks to the flanks. Inchey came into the game more and
more, and ran on to a ball played inside the full-back, got into the box
for Stevenage's best scoring opportunity, and shaved the outside of the
far post with his shot again, when Stein and Smudger had made good runs
inside him. Enfield brought on St.Hilaire, who showed a lot of pace but
not much idea what to do with it, and swapped a defender for another
defender. Stevenage brought off Stein and the L.W. and brought on another
C.F. (Gettings) and another L.W. (Venners, possibly short for Venables).
This changed very little.
In the last 5 minutes, the Stevenage C.B. and on-loan keeper
confused each other on how to deal with a long ball over the top, with the
result that the defender headed the ball over the top of the advancing
keeper, and St.Hilaire raced past them both, and scored with a simple tap
in. Two minutes from time, a long ball over the Enfield defence and their
defender headed past his advancing keeper for Stevenage's Venners to race
past them both and...his shot was cleared off the line.
The result leaves Stevenage 7 points clear of Marlow (who also
lost) and 8 points clear of Enfield - both Marlow and Enfield have three
games in hand. Stevenage also 6 points clear of Chesham, with 2 games in
hand over them. Stevenage played 36, 6 games to go.
If this game reflects the best of the Diadora league, then footie
fans considering going to a match can expect to see a good standard of
ability and teamwork, generally with 4 or 5 players standing out above the
rest, and 1 or 2 who ought to stick to Sunday League like the rest of us
clumsy dreamers. There were very few fouls in this game, and very little
niggling or spoiling tactics. The officials were highly competent and
respected by the players - I even detected some respect from the fans,
since the officials didn't do anything to spoil the entertainment.
I still went home dejected though, after Stevenage conceding a
clown goal in the last minutes, Preston getting beat by Scunthorpe, and
Luton hardly getting into gear at Wembley.
Next week's match report :-
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University of Reading Department of Meteorology
Versus
East Berkshire Cub Scout Pack Leaders over 40's
Patrick Simpson.