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Hitchin Harriers U9 v Watford Sun Postal Youth U9

Saturday, November 10 2007

Having traversed the whole of Hertfordshire yet again we arrived at the Sun Postal Youth ground in Watford for an early 10am kick off. The Sun postal team looked very well drilled as they warmed up ready for the game; I believe they had a squad of around 12 players. As Sun Postal happen to play in a very similar colour to the Harriers, the lads had to wear the nice pale blue Hitchin Belle shirts!

The first five minutes of the game was very even with both sides having a reasonable amount of possession. The first chance came to Sun Postal who had a free kick just outside the box. Luckily it was blocked by Joe in his one man wall and eventually cleared by George. Next it was the Harriers turn to have ago with a good strong run from Joe creating a pass to George. Unfortunately George didn’t manage to get a clean shot and the ball was saved by the keeper. Another great piece of play by the Harriers saw a Juan throw in picked up by Joe passed to George whose shot was just wide of the post. The Harriers continued to apply the pressure and seemed to have flustered the Sun Postal defence who cleared the ball several times resulting in a corner to the Harriers. The first corner was beautifully struck by George, but it was just a little too high for Joe to get his head to it. Another corner by George was struck even better and a slight deflection of a Sun Postal player gave the Harriers their first goal of the match [1-0] just before half time.
The Harriers deserved to be up at the half time stage as they dominated possession in the latter stages of the first half and did not give Sun Postal chance to play their game.

The second half saw Sun Postal up their game slightly and in the 3rd minute a Sun Postal corner was not cleared by the Harriers defence and a shot to the left corner of the net brought the scores equal [1-1]. The equaliser seemed to re-energise the Harriers and they once again began to dominate the possession. Joe was pulled up a number of times for foul throws which did give Sun Postal some possession. A Joe run down the left wing gave him a shot across goal which went in off the post to put the Harriers ahead once again [2-1]. The whole team battled really hard at denying Sun Postal any time on the ball. The Dan’s defence held strong and the midfield played their part. A number of saves by Ryan also helped keep the Harriers ahead. Joe was briefly taken off midway through the second half after a ball to the head caused him to throw up on the sideline. However after a quick shirt change and a drink he was back on to finish the game. There was another shot from George at the edge of the box that was just wide of the target. Encouragement a plenty from the sidelines as the end of the match was in site, “run your little butts off” shouted Ryan’s mum desperate for them to not concede a goal in the closing minutes. The half seemed to go on for ever as we seemed to play a 23min half for some reason. Sun Postal did create a few heart stopping moments where they could have scored but the Harriers weathered the storm magnificently.

A great performance from the Harriers and especially to Joe who I think played his best game so far this season (the editor’s non biased opinion!) and showed great commitment.

Result: Hitchin Harriers 2 Watford Sun Postal Youth 1

Harriers: Ryan Dickman; Daniel Jordan; Danny McConnell; Juan Andres Ward; Joe Henshaw; George Rodger; Elliot Willoughby; Mathew Warren; Edward Routh.