Jubilee FC arrived at station approach for their first home game of the season against AC Hertford. Jubilee were in a buoyant mood after demolishing Haileybury 6-1 the week pervious, but the players knew AC Hertford were a tidy outfit.
Elton Marks started with his favoured 4-4-2 formation. Luke Lloyd was back between the sticks with Max Charalambos and Saul ‘set-piece’ Charalambos playing at right and left full back respectively. Alexi Kennedy and Nicky Alvarez formed the 5th different centre back partnership of the campaign. Johnny ‘leftpeg’ Heather and Josh Rogers started on the left and right side of midfield with Sam Brown partnering the returning Ashley ‘Kieran Gibbs’ Glenn in the centre of the park. Piers ‘livewire’ Short partnered the goal machine Marc ‘Barnes’ Farrell in the Jubilee FC attack. Dean Freedman and Nigel ’50 pence Head’ Agykumhene were warming the bench.
Jubilee FC kicked off the first half and AC Hertford immediately put the players under pressure for the ball. The opening 10 -15 minutes were a scrappy affair with neither team really gaining control of the ball. The Jubilee defence was doing well to keep the attackers at bay. Ashley Glenn was keeping possession well trying to release Sam Brown and Johnny Heather down the left wing. AC Hertford broke down the left resulting in a corner. The corner was whipped in and headed towards goal. Luke Lloyd made a marvellous save (combined with excellent assistant refereeing from Nigel Agykumhene) with his hands to deny AC Hertford the first goal of the match.
Jubilee just weren’t able to get a real foothold in the game and were restricted to long range shots. Piers Short was unable to capitalise on the through ball from Sam Brown. While Marc Farrell shot wide from just outside the box. Ac Hertford won the ball in the middle of the park and played a through ball down the left side of defence. The attacker was able to burst through and slot into the bottom corner. 1-0 to AC Hertford.
Jubilee kicked off and tried to assert some pressure. Jubilee were unable to break through the back line of AC Hertford. The best effort fell to Max Charalambos who closed down the left back forcing an error. Max Charalambos then crossed it for Piers Short who scored…unfortunately the goal was disallowed for an alleged pull on the defender. Sunday league refereeing at its best…
Jubilee FC came in at half time extremely deflated. Marc Farrell tried his best to rally the troops and Elton Marks made a tactical change by moving Johnny Heather into the middle of the Park and Piers Short moving to the left of midfield.
AC Hertford kicked off the second half and immediately tried a long ball down the right of midfield gaining a corner. Jubilee broke from the corner with Piers Short but the through ball to Marc Farrell was cut out. Jubilee were dominating the opening the second half and Johnny Heather was playing excellent in the middle of the park making a few mazy runs to the by-line. AC Hertford were unable to deal with Mr Heather and when he burst into the box the defending player hauled him down. PENALTY to JUBILEE FC!!! Marc Farrell picked up the ball and placed (Scuffed) a shot in the bottom right hand corner of the goal. The score was now 1-1.
Jubilee now had the fire in their belly and went in search of the winner. Josh Rogers and Max Charalambos were getting a lot of joy down the right side of midfield and were trying to play balls into Marc Farrell and Piers Short. Elton Marks looked to freshen’ things up and substituted Max Charalambos for Nigel Agykumhene and Piers Short for Dean Freedman.
Nigel Agykumhene made an immediate impact on AC Hertfords left winger with a crunching tackle. He knew Nigel was on the pitch now…Sam Brown was chasing back well and got booked for a thoroughly professional foul while AC Hertford were looking to break. But as Jubilee FC went on the attack, the ball was intercepted and played over the top. The attacker broke free and shot at goal. Alex Kennedy nearly stopped the goal but it deflected off him into the back of the net. 2-1 to AC Hertford.
Jubilee pressed for the equalised with Alex Kennedy now breaking from midfield. Dean Freedman played a looping ball to Marc Farrell who controlled and shot but it was well saved by the keeper. Just as Jubilee were looking like they would equalise. They got hit on the break and conceded another goal. 3-1 to AC Hertford.
The full time whistle blew and Jubilee FC lost 3-1 to AC hertford. It was only their second loss of the season but it was a poor performance from the team in general. The second half was a well spirited affair but unfortunately they could not get the winning goals needed. Johnny Heather claimed the man of the match award. Alex Kennedy and Marc Farrell also deserve a mention for raising their game in the second half.
