A second away thrashing in 3 weeks for Old Herts, (last weeks’ 2-1 away victory against Buntingford Wanderers bringing welcome relief), which told little about their ability but perhaps more about their mindset.
On a warm, wet but mild afternoon the Lincoln Greens lined up, against the league leaders, with the winning XI from last week being strengthen by the return of Chris Burman and Rob Matthews. It was meant to be a 4-5-1 line up, but very quickly the format became a far looser 4-2-4 to disastrous effect against a team that knew how to play football.
Almost inevitably King William started the quicker and they had the first chance of the match from a dangerous cross. A through ball then needed Bolton to come quickly off his line to intercept the pass and Jowitt was required to make a vital tackle.
On seven minutes a further King William cross was neither prevented nor dealt with and was headed home for the first goal of the match.
King William 1 Old Herts Athletic 0
Barnes was forced almost immediately to concede a corner, but the danger was cleared. Chris Burman hit a pass that was too long and there was a four man passing movement involving him, Christian, Want and Rob Burman down the right side, but it was King William, who were playing all the football with their two central midfielders playing neat 10 yard passes to their team mates and then chipping accurate balls to their quick forwards. One King William long ball required a Bolton save and a desperate clearance as the Green’s attempted to stem the tide. There was some good passing involving Staines, Want and Chris Burman and then a further move this time involving Tanner resulted in a corner being forced as Want’s shot was blocked.
However a quick breakaway found Old Herts out short of cover again. The cross was not cleared and after something of a scramble the ball was forced home from 6 yards on 24 minutes.
King William 2 Old Herts Athletic 0
Jowitt did some further good work at the back and again a move involving Staines, Want, Chris Burman and Rob Burman promised something better and it was only stopped with a foul on Staines.
The King William goal keeper launched and old fashioned “Route 1” kick down the centre of the pitch and on a difficult service Barnes could not get a decent touch on the ball, enabling the King William forward to round Bolton and slide the ball home on 28 minutes.
King William 3 Old Herts Athletic 0
Rob Matthew’s needed some aggressive tackling to keep his opposite number under control, but King Williams passing movements and running off the ball was keeping the game firmly under their control. Tanner tried to release Smith with a long ball and then Staines slid the ball forward to Smith, who was caught offside. The Greens best chance of the first half occurred when Chris Burman cut the ball back from the byeline for Rob Matthew’s curling shot to be well saved by the King William keeper.
Perhaps the Greens first half performance could be best summed up by the image of four of their players standing still on the half way line as King William mounted yet another attack.
Perhaps there would be a second half come back from Old Herts and on 48 minutes a neat one-two involving Want and Smith allowed Want to set Tanner up and he rolled the ball coolly home!
King William 3 Old Herts Athletic 1
A free kick was conceded by the King William keeper for picking up a back pass, but only a corner could be forced. Moss, Chris Burman and Want combined down the right and then Staines won the ball to feed Want again.
Barnes came across the back line to break up a King William counter-attack and Bolton did well to save a King William long shot low to his right.
Unfortunately on 64 minutes King William restored their advantage, a cross was not cleared, the ball came back into the penalty area quickly and their forward had the opportunity to turn and shoot low into the corner.
King William 4 Old Herts Athletic 1
Even in possession Old Herts were making it difficult for themselves, by not supporting their own team mates and not being available to receive the ball.
And this is really what contributed to the defeat in general and the last goal of the game. The ball was lost going forward, King William counter-attacked and their player was able to turn and shoot from 18 yards on 71 minutes.
King William 5 Old Herts Athletic 1
As the game went into the last 15 minutes a passing movement started at the back by Moss and then involving Chris Burman and Want resulted in Smith shooting wide. And then Christian saw his effort go wide after being set up by Chris Burman.
So a further disappointing performance, especially when there is enough talent in the side. Old Herts are struggling with the basics, play easy balls, shoot on target, retain possession, defend from the front and support your mates. Would make that all important difference!
