Harpenden 3 Knobs 3

Lovely day, a bit windy. And an explosive ending. New centre forward Paul showed his paces, nearly scoring in the first seconds. A comfortable first half should have seen us five ahead rather than the two. Unlikely as it felt to me, 2-0 half time was nowhere near enough with Harpenden somehow dominating second half going downhill with the wind behind them. I had thought we were comfortably enough placed to sacrifice Vinny for a rest at half time! How wrong I was.
A nice move in the first half saw the ball break to a rejuvenated Nick who shot firmly home. Vinny could have added a second if he'd rounded the keeper rather than taking a shot early but he made no mistake in a similar situation, rounding the keeper and blasting in from an inch. Gavin was back and showed what we'd missed in September and October, cespecially first half. He hardly got a pass in the second.
Second half saw them territorially superior and a couple of crap goals ensued. The first an unchallenged header from a corner at the far post followed by a freak 20 yard looping own goal from Chris- a ricochet off their man's foot ? Their wide man then wriggled beyond Gerry to square into the six yard box catching our defence off balance and it was rolled in for them to take a 3-2 lead.
Steve was coming into his own in this half. All the drama, wonderful. First he took a blasted ball smack up the hooter which felled him, but apart from a bruise , a bit of blood and no doubt a smidgeon of pain none of this was sufficient to count him out. Gavin who had decided to try his luck on the right burst forward on one of his nippy runs and ignoring an errant offside flag (their linesmen were partisan to say the least- indeed crap) raced into the box before being comprehensively flattened. An excellent referee, not being fooled by the latest hoisting of the jolly roger immediately awarded a penalty  which Steve converted straight down the middle. 3-3.
It was left for Tony to bravely come between players to catch a cross during which he was flattened. Their conviction that no one touched him left one dubious when Tony emerged from a howl with a gash on his cheek the size of a fifty pence piece! Someone whether accidental or not must have touched him or was it self inflicted, elbowing himself in the cheekbone for a bit of sympathy. Spouting blood he continued for the last two minutes. Two minutes which were not to take place. Steve emerging with a ball from our penalty area was being enthusiastically harassed by their centre forward.  Steve passed wide to Richard and his follow through 'inadvertently' caught matey in the knackers. Scream, curse, shove ended with Steve landing on him. Now if Steve wants to land on you the only option presumably is to adopt the brace position and hope to minimise any damage intended or otherwise. Several others piled in either to assist or warm themselves en masse from the biting cold wind I know not. The game resumed with the referee blowing the final whistle. Honours even. The referee did not see the incident so end of matter.
Gerry and Brendan had good games in full back positions, Nick had a storming first half and all in all we should have won if we'd been a bit more clinical first half. I could not see them coming back even from 2-0 at half time but they did.
Carpenters Arms- real ale pub- some lovely Harveys beer from Sussex. Steve showed his cuddly side by being inseparable from the pub dog, which was seemingly some sort of breed without a head. Narf took a liking to Steve's feet. He left before any real sexual overtures were made!
Next week a battle against aspiring champions Welwyn who actually lost to Sandridge yesterday. Come on you Knobs.