A surprisingly strong Old Herts squad of 14 gathered on an equally surprisingly pleasant Spring day to play on the sloping Cougars pitch. It did say something about the spirit of this club as with only 3 games left there was not too much to play for and only a slightly nervous thought of possible relegation.
Old Herts decided on a 3-5-2 formation, it was imaginative, it was creative, but it was dangerous as it relied on the forwards to hold up the ball. Their first thought however is to turn into their defender, try to beat him and shoot on goal at the first opportunity. In this system they need to be able to hold up the ball and lay it back to the midfielders, then go again. If they lose the ball it just puts the defence under pressure again.
You had to feel sorry for the two “Robs” – Burman and Matthews, at wing-back, who were rarely brought into the game and in fact Matthews was largely anonymous until he moved to his more familiar role at left back in the second half.
The Cougars won the toss and is their want decided to play up the hill for the first half. Chris Burman set Jim Reeves away early on, but his cross could not be reached by Rob Burman. Cougars were awarded a free kick that Tanner headed away. Moss was forced into some good defending and Grant was needed to head a Cougars cross to safety. Cougars main attacking ploy was the long throw (although surprisingly they didn’t make too much of it coming down the hill second half!) and this caused a lot of defensive pressure for Old Herts, with one such throw being just scrambled away. Jowitt made a good tackle at centre back and pushed the ball forward to Tanner, who made a good run before crossing wide.
Bolton made a clean catch from a Cougars cross and threw the ball to Reynolds. He in turn passed the ball up to Tanner for another good run before passing to Chris Burman. His shot from 25 yards however was saved by the Cougar keeper.
It was pretty much end to end stuff at this stage.
Now it was Barnes’ turn to set Tanner on a run and he forced a corner for Old Herts. Cougars had another long throw that was headed wide and then from yet another throw Bolton had to make a smart save to his right.
Old Herts gained a free kick, which was only just gathered by the Cougars keeper as the away team exerted some pressure. Tanner was late on a Cougar player and conceded a free kick that Grant headed away. Cougars had a fluent move resulting in a shot that was tipped over the bar by Bolton, then they had a long shot that was saved.
On 28 minutes the ever reliable Grant had to go off to be replaced by Smith, Barnes having to come into the back line and Moss moving over to the right.
The deadlock was broken on 32 minutes when a Cougars move down their right resulted in a shot being drilled home.
Buntingford Cougars 1 Old Herts Athletic 0
Reynolds hooked on a ball in midfield to Rob Burman who flicked the ball onto Tanner, who appeared to be knocked over by the Cougars defender, but no foul was given. Smith, Reeves and Tanner combined well, but it was hard going against a strong, physical Cougars team.
Chris Burman won the ball and passed to Reynolds, his ball to Reeves was crossed to Tanner, but he couldn’t make anything off it. Rob Burman took the ball down well and fed Reeves in, who forced the Cougars keeper into a frantic scramble for the ball, as the first half came to a close.
The second half commenced with Matthews making a strong challenge on the left, then Barnes, Smith and Reeves combined giving Smith the opportunity to shoot wide. Jowitt made a covering tackle conceding a throw for Cougars that went right across the Old Herts goal face before being cleared. Cougars had a long shot that went wide, before Barnes also had to go off to be replaced by Matt Reeves on 55 minutes. Matt Reeves played the ball up for Smith, who gave the ball to Tanner for him to shoot. On 57 minutes though Cougars increased their lead, a cross was not gathered by Bolton the ball ran loose and was hit in from six yards.
Buntingford Cougars 2 Old Herts Athletic 0
But again, whatever shortcomings Old Herts have had this season, lying down and accepting defeat has not been one of them and on 67 minutes Reynolds crossed the ball deep into the Cougars penalty area, big Dylan Tanner rose above their defenders and headed the ball down for Chris Burman to drive the ball home on the half-volley from 18 yards (that’s your distance son, not 25 yards!).
Buntingford Cougars 2 Old Herts Athletic 1
The Cougars had a shot that was deflected wide, but Old Herts were defending well down the left, Matthews and Matt Reeves working well together to close their opponents down and not allowing them to cross the ball. However Cougars gained a corner, looked up quickly, took it short, there was poor awareness from Old Herts, the ball was knocked into the six yard box and despite more than a suspicion of offside a goal was scored on 80 minutes. It’s exactly this kind of lack of basic football knowledge that has cost Old Herts dear this season.
Buntingford Cougars 3 Old Herts Athletic 1
It was now turning into a midfield battle with Chris Burman, Reynolds and Matt Reeves working well together. Reynolds knocked another long ball but Chris Burman couldn’t get on the end of it, then Smith whipped a ball in only for Jim Reeves to head wide. Rob Burman was elbowed in the head as Old Herts tried to counterattack. Jim Reeves crossed the ball, it came back to Reynolds, he chipped the ball back into the Cougars penalty area and the Old Herts joint “poacher in chief” Rob Christian headed the ball home with just one minute of time to play.
Buntingford Cougars 3 Old Herts Athletic 2
So there we had it then Old Herts fifth consecutive defeat by just one goal so I’ve looked at some different stats this week:
• Games played: 21, those won or lost by more than one goal: 6 (that’s less that 33% for you statisticians).
• Only one team in the division has scored less goals.
• Six teams in the division have conceded more goals (that’s over half of them!).
• Make your own conclusions
In my opinion it comes down to attention to detail, the classic this week was the short corner that wasn’t closed down and the offside wasn’t spotted, it cost us a vital point and wasn’t necessary. Half of any game is played in the head.
