The Vets made it 4 wins in a row and go top of league with a scrappy win away at Harpenden. The match was shrouded in mystery after Tony Kingsbury's water went missing - more on this later. On a bobbly pitch Knebworth struggled to find any form in a difficult first half. Harpenden had a good chance to lob Tony, but put it over, Knebworth threatened a few times, but overall it was a poor first half.
The first goal nearly came after Dave Millhouse made a lovely turn in the box, drove towards the goal and was tripped before he could shoot. Lots of protesting from Harpenden, but a clear penalty to Knebworth - unfortunately Bully missed.
Three changes made at half time - moneyball theory dictating that all players must play at least 45 mins. The deadlock was broken shortly after half time. Manager Hobbs went forward for his 1058th corner in Knebworth colours and recorded his 6th ever goal with a bullet header after Bully's corner found was initially cleared and then played back in again.
Knebworth went 2 up 10 minutes later - after a series of heavy tackles the ball fell to Paul, he flicked it up and volleyed home from 30 yards. Excellent goal.
But Harpenden did not give up and continued to look for long balls through. They got one back after Tony made a fantastic double save, Dave Jordan blocked another shot, but then the centre forward poked it home. To ensure no one forgot his great double save, Tony aimed a two footed tackle at the post and lost out. He misses the next game with a heavily bruised foot.
Knebworth were starting to get a bit nervous - conceding an unnecessary free kick 30 yards out. Unfortunately the free kick was accidentally floated over Tony, and from cruising at 2 nil up, it was 2-2 with 10 minutes to go.
It was starting to get a bit frantic now, but Woody kept a cool head and cut in from the left to fire in a shot from the edge of the box. The ball rolled under the keeper, and City boys Paul and Darren swore with the honesty of an Enron accountant it was over the line. Creative honesty from Harpenden said it was not over the line. A fault with the video technology meant the referee had no choice but to say "no goal". Paul subsequently gave his son Jack a lesson in finger pointing and aggressive body language towards the creatively honest keeper.
But Knebworth were not done yet. Banksy topped up his Shisha pipe with Tony's water and found his first burst of energy to cause some confusion in the Harpenden defence - with 90 seconds remaining and only the keeper to bear, he wobbled past and tapped home the winner.
Strong turn out in the pub meant Bully was forced to moan about "normal" pub attendance, rather than this specific turn out. Quite a refreshing change.
Greg had 2 sausage sandwiches, Brendan Walkden had 3 - both looked guilty when Harpenden shared the remaining 3 sandwiches between 8 of them.
Supporters - Billy Brown, Jack Matthews
9 comments:
Bully misses a penalty AGAIN!!! Why does he keep getting to take them. Be strong management and make the change. You won't regret it.
Brendan Walkden said he has a 100% record taking penalties. It's a no braine.
I remember that Walkden penalty, can't say looked on with much confidence
Fockin buzzin after that drink man, grindin my teef like Darrens Mum in her sleep. Woo!
Brendan penalty 0-0 v Sandridge , minutes to go. He volunteered noone else would. He strode up and scored. Nuff said! 1-0 Knobs win.
Sport is all about marginal gains these days in order to stay up the top. Tweaking our penalty taker is a marginal gain. That penalty miss could have been the difference between 1st and 2nd place in the league. Don't be frightened to make changes management.
What,and have Bully spit out his dummy. Darren wouldn't hear of it.
At least he looked a bit more confident than Bully did on Sunday. It went in, under pressure, 0.0, last minute. Can't ask for more than that ?
Can't wait to lap up some more of Tony's juice.
Post a Comment