Team: Hipple, Jessavala, Kuodys, Vallance, E,Richards, Loffler, Shipman, Peters, Pickering, D.Richards, Barnard.

Subs: San Emeterio (Loffler - 60), Forkan (Jessavala - 60), Roberts (Barnard - 75)

Goal Scorers: -

Hartley Wintney certainly worked hard & showed willing on a difficult surface, but from the off it was obvious that the team lacked the edge that saw them grind out a great result against Camberley on Saturday. Maybe that tough encounter took more out of the players than we realised, as the young Harefield side were just that yard ahead of Hartley throughout the game.

The 1st 20 minutes or so were pretty poor for both sides as the hard surface & poor control saw a catalogue of unforced errors & misplaced passes.

Harefield came closest to breaking the deadlock, advancing down the right wing with the resulting cross being narrowly headed over the bar by the centre forward. As the half progressed Hartley began to play the type of football suited to the pitch, playing more of a percentages game & getting the ball into areas behind the Harefield defence. During the 20 minutes prior to the half time interval chances came & went for Hartley Wintney with Dave Richards missing a handful of chances when in good positions to score, although unlucky on one occasion when driving the ball just over the Harefield cross bar from all of 20 yards. Barnard was left frustrated when poised to strike on goal just outside of the 6 yard box when the ball just wouldn't drop & was cleared to safety.

With the scores level at half time the key emphasis was on improving the quality slightly, continuing to play the more direct game as was the case late in the 1st half at the same time as keeping things solid at the back.

Just 10 minutes into the 2nd half Harefield took the lead, one direct ball lifted over the hartley defence resulted in the Harefield striker getting between the Hartley defence & goalie & slotting the ball home from the edge of the area. 0-1.

The game was fairly even but the frustration was increasing as Harefield were vulnerable in defence, but in the attacking 3rd Hartley lacked the quality & killer instinct to take advantage of the chances that came their way.

0-1 became 0-2 when Hartley failed to clear the ball from inside their own penalty area & with the 2nd attempt a soft penalty was awarded when the striker fell to the ground following a clumsy tackle just inside the 6 yard box.

At 2-0 substitutions were made to try & freshen things up & although Hartley weren't really at the races they still had chances to pull a goal back, the best coming during a goal mouth scramble with 3 attempts at goal being blocked on the line & in the 6 yard box.

Harefield continued to attack & had half chances to increase the lead, but to their credit Hartley kept going but just didn't have quite enough to get anything from the game.

We'll draw a line under that one & accept it as an off night. Chesham United up next, we won 2-1 there just a month or so ago. It would be nice to get our 1st double of the season & finish our home campaign off with a win.