HARINGEY BOROUGH v AMPTHILL TOWN

(Spartan South Midlands League – Premier Division)

Haringey Borough and Ampthill Town shared the points on Saturday, and while both teams will feel they had chances to win the game, a draw was a fair result in the testing heat.     With temperatures reaching 30oC the game was always going to be a contest of endurance rather than speed and both teams started sedately, easing into the game rather than trying to dominate from the first whistle.

 The best of the early chances fell to Ampthill when Danny Nicholls managed to get to a through ball before the Borough ‘keeper, but he could only poke the ball wide.   Five minutes later Nicholls was presented another good chance, but Austin Byfield produced a smart save low down to his left to keep the scores level.

 Borough’s first real chance fell to Dean Fenton when pressure on the Ampthill ‘keeper left him with an open goal, but a weak sidefoot shot allowed the Lee Smith to recover and force the ball out for a corner.  Haringey lost Dewayne Clarke to injury on the 20 minute mark but by this point the team had started to take some control of the game and began to make chances. Lawrence Constanti played a good ball over the top to Roland Namquita but his shot could only find the ‘keeper and the Darrell Cox couldn’t turn in the follow up.  Two minutes later Fenton brilliantly controlled a long ball on the left hand side of the area, but his shot was deflected out for a corner.

 Haringey made the renewed pressure count on the half hour mark. Fenton played a through ball to Cox who looked to have taken the ball too far down the right but managed to cut the ball back and  leave Namquita with the simplest finish.  Despite a good end to the half Borough were lucky to go in a goal up when they switched off and a quickly taken free kick gave Robbie Goodman a great chance in the area, but he waited too long to shoot and Lewis Laws was able to make a saving tackle.   However, the final chance of the half came to Borough when Constanti had a curling freekick touched onto the crossbar by Smith in the Ampthill goal.

 After half time Ampthill stepped up the performance and two good chances fell to Nicholls not long after the break. The first was only stopped by a clearance off the line while the second was fired directly at the ‘keeper.    Haringey started sluggishly, although 10 minutes into the second half some good work down the right from Cox allowed him to hold the ball up and deliver a cross, but there was no Borough player to attack the ball.   Nicholls saw another glorious chance go by when he was found unmarked in the area, but Byfield made himself big and saved the shot with his legs.

 Borough’s luck ran out in the 71 minute when a long corner was headed back across goal and Tyrone Taylor was able to nod the ball in.  The goal seemed to have been a wake up call for Borough who began to come forward with more purpose. Rickelle Christian found Fenton in the area, and when he went over and the referee pointed to the spot Haringey thought they had a good chance to regain the lead. However, after consulting with the  assistant referee, he opted for a contested drop ball on the edge of the area.

 As the second half wore on and the heat took its toll the game became increasingly stretched as each team took turns to try and catch the other unawares, but neither could make their chances count.  In the 89th minute Ampthill had the ball in the back of the net again but it was adjudged offside and the match ended all square.

 Borough squad: Austin Byfield, Rickelle Christian, Cedric Lakole, Dewayne Clarke (Ben Butler)(Andros Molnar), Nick Nicou, Lewis Laws, Lawrence Constanti, Stephen Obeng, Roland Namquita, Darrell Cox, Dean Fenton

 Subs not used: Vas Soteriou, John Powles, Erbil Bozkurt (GK)

 On Saturday 25th Borough visit Hertford Town for a League encounter and provided their opponents are not involved in a Cup replay will be at Harefield United on the evening of Tuesday 28th

 

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