Division 4SW St Albans Exiles 1 Bishop s Stortford III 1 ST ALBANS Exiles made the long trip for the fixture against Bishop s Stortford III knowing that they were in for a difficult match after Stortford had beaten third placed Broxbourne the previous wee

Division 4SW

St Albans Exiles 1 Bishop's Stortford III 1

ST ALBANS Exiles made the long trip for the fixture against Bishop's Stortford III knowing that they were in for a difficult match after Stortford had beaten third placed Broxbourne the previous week.

Exiles fielded pretty much a full strength side, but were slow off the mark at the start of the match.

Stortford's game plan was pretty clear from the opening whistle, which was quick, long balls to their pacy front players.

Exiles attacked down both flanks with Dill on the left and the impressive James Cowan on the right. Attack after attack came through Cowan, who ran the Stortford defence ragged all game.

Despite several shots at goal Exiles were unable to find a goal. With goal machines White and Jones pretty off colour all game there was no sign of ether side breaking the deadlock.

Exiles thought they had scored when White found the net from a penalty corner, but it was rightly ruled out for being too high.

With 10 minutes to go in the first half, Stortford were awarded a rather fortunate hit, and despite Fretter keeping out the initial shot, some poor defending saw the ball played across the 'D' and a sharp reverse stick hit smashed into the goal.

Exiles did not panic and continued the waves of attack at the Stortford goal with little lucky running their way. At half time the Exiles found themselves 1-0 down, when really they should have been out of sight.

The second half pretty much mirrored the first half, with Cowan attacking at every opportunity.

However, the slack final pass and shot let the Exiles down.

The pressure had to tell and eventually with 10 minutes left quick, first time passing from Lister to Jones fed White in the 'D'. He was able to slip the ball to the fast moving Cowan who slammed the ball into the net.

Exiles pressed for a winner and took a few chances at the end. Stortford had one last attempt to take all three points with a penalty corner after the final whistle was snuffed out by a combination of Fretter in goal and Dorsett.

Exiles will retain second place in the league but have crucial fixtures against leaders Potters Bar and third placed Broxbourne II in the coming weeks.

Exiles will need to improve if they are to maintain the momentum of the first half of the season.

Exiles: Fretter, Bird, Winter, Allen, Dorsett, Lister (c), Reeves, Dill, Cowan, White, Jones, James.