Team: Hipple, San Emeterio, Grundy, Kuodys, E. Richards, Francis, Shipman, De Baros, Fewtrell, Stapleton, Richards

Subs: Flanders (Fewtrell - 70), Loffler (Francis 75)

Goal Scorers: Shipman, Own Goal.

Sent Off: Richards, De Baros.

How often do you see it, 2-0 up & looking comfortable only to go & draw or lose the game. Well this was typically one of those days. Although we looked comfortable throughout the 1st 45 minutes & of course you would take a two goal lead at half time, we were slightly dissapointed as excellent chances were missed to realistically go in 4 goals to the good.

There was another debut for a youth team player, this time it was Elliot Richards who was nothing short of outstanding, he slotted in at left back & on 1st impressions is definitely one for the 1st team sometime in the not too distant future & that was the most pleasing aspect of the day. At one point we had 5 current youth team players on the pitch which is excellent, that for me is what reserve team football is all about & has got to be the way forward for this football club.

Tring were lively & the defence was well orchestrated by goalie come centre half Mindy Kuodys who is looking better with every game that passes. At times we played some good football, getting the ball into wide areas & always looking dangerous in attack. Chances came & went with Stapleton & Richards coming close. The deadlock was broken when a great ball was played over the top & into the left channel by Elliot Richards, Dave Richards ran onto the through ball & following a big step over crossed dangerously into the penalty area, Stapleton with great vision laid the ball into the path of Tom Shipman who smashed the ball into the bottom corner. 1-0.

Hartley kept pressing & following a cross into the box the Tring defender headed expertly into the top corner of his own goal. 2-0.

The 2nd half was always going to be a challenge. Tring started brightly & began to come back into the game with good posession, playing neat football. Stapleton excellently jinked his way into the penalty area & will be dissapointed not to make it 3-0 when one on one, credit to the goalie for saving well with his feet.

Tring pulled the game back to 2-1, early in the half in what was quite a bizarre situation. Steve Grundy brought the Tring centre forward down & a penalty was awarded. Sounds straightforward, but not when the linesman on the near side was 100% certain that the foul was committed outside of the penalty area, although this was the case he refused to inform the referee as in his own words "was not his job to do so as he was only the assistant referee" - laughable. The penalty was dispatched with confidence - 2-1.

The tide was clearly turning & things became even more difficult when Dave Richards was sent off for his 2nd yellow card, it was harsh but in the letter of the law delaying the goalie from kicking the ball out of his hands is a bookable offence, it is a shame that the ref didn't consistently keep to the letter of the law throughout. Difficult turned into near on impossible when we were reduced to 9 players, this time it was Pedro de Baros, who was sent off following his decision to question the linesman. Funny how on this occasion the linesman was able to flag the referee & get his attention leading to a red card but couldn't do exactly that for the penalty.

With 11 men I am confident we would have gone onto win the game, with 10 possibly, with 9 almost certainly not. This was because at this point Tring played the correct game keeping posession & taking their time to find openings. Unsurprisingly with only around 10 minutes to go it became  2-2 , posession was kept in the centre of the park & with the central midfielder not being shut down quick enough he picked his spot & smashed an unstoppable shot into the far top corner.

Although at one point it looked like a certain 3 points we were now realistically looking at coming away with none. This was confirmed when in the last couple of minutes the right sided Tring player was not shut down & cutting in from the right wing drove the ball into the far bottom corner from all of 20 yards. 2-3.

Dissapointed doesn't describe the outcome of this game. But when you have 2 players sent off you are not going to win games, that has happened in the last 2 games & simply isn't acceptable.

Although the result was hard to take, the performances of a number of the players was very pleasing, especially the youngsters in the side who continue to impress with the quality that they are showing when playing a very good standard of adult football.

Team: Hipple, Grundy, Kuodys, Reeves, Loffler, Jessavala, Pickering, Shipman, Kingston, Richards, Stapleton

Subs: De Baros (Reeves - HT), Fewtrell (Loffler - 65)

Sent Off: Grundy, Richards

Goalscorers: Richards - 2, Stapleton, Kuodys

Team: Hipple, San Emeterio, Grundy, Kuodys, Kingston, Francis, Cousins, Shipman, De Baros, Fisher, Stapleton

Subs: Loffler (Cousins - 30), Fewtrell (San Emeterio - 45)

Team: Hipple, San Emeterio, Grundy, Kuodys, Kingston, Jessavala, Peters, Cousins, Fewtrell, Sullivan, Stapleton.

Subs: Richards (Jessavala - 65), Grundy (San Emeterio - 70)

Goal Scorers: Stapleton, Kingston.

Team: White, Jessavala, Grundy, Reeves, Kingston, Fewtrell, Kuodys, Cousins, Loffler, Richards, Stapleton

Subs: San Emeterio (Richards - 60), Roberts (Jessavala - 60), Pickering (Loffler - 60)

Goal Scorer: Kuodys

Team: White, Jessavala, Grundy, Reeves, Kingston, Fewtrell, Peters, Cousins, Francis, Fisher, Stapleton

Subs: Kuodys (Reeves - 20), Richards (Francis - 65), San Emeterio (Fewtrell - 70)

Goal Scorers: Fisher, Stapleton

Team: Hunt, Kingston, Grundy, Reeves, Loffler, Jessavala, Peters, Turnbull, De Baros, Fisher, Stapleton

Subs: Francis, Fewtrell, Cousins

Hartleys bad run of form continued on Saturday as they went down to another late goal at home.

After two comfortable wins over Knaphill this season the psychological advantage was with the home team. The game got off to a scrappy start but no one knew the turning point in the game would come so early, John Rimmer tangled with Knaphills Ricky Hodgsen just 12 minutes into the game and Hodgson was shown a straight red card for a violent conduct. This killed the flow of the game as Knaphill shut up shop.

Hartley were well on top and the midfield trio of Brunt, Bevins and Warwick were dictating the game and starting to make the extra man count. The deadlock was nearly broken on 25 minutes but a fine save from Shelly in the KH goal kept out Hamilton then Neville Roach had his volley from 10 yards instinctively saved by the legs of the keeper. Stamp and Spence also having decent chance to score. Hartley continued to press and were kept out again but this time it was the post from a Danny Bevins header. KH never really tested the home goal but the teams went in level at the break.

After the break Knaphill came into the game more and Hartley were not dominating as they did in the first half. Rimmer and Daniels, coming in for the suspended Theo looked comfortable at the back and limited KH to few chances, Baker and Parrington had half chances from distance but didn't have enough power to test Bledian. Hartleys best chances came from a Matt Brunt cross down the left was headed wide by Hamilton. and Scott Warwick's was one on one with the keeper but again Shelly in the KH goal kept his side in the game. On 85 minutes some slack defending by Hartley led to Baker being brought down right on the edge of the area. He then stepped up to drill the ball into the bottom corner of the net and secure the 3 points for the away side.

Another game where 3 points should have been in the bag but missed chances costing us.

Hartley Team

Fetzullahu, Stamp, Daniels, Rimmer, Kingston, Brunt(c), Warwick, Bevins, Spence, Roach, Hamilton(Small 75)

Crescent Rovers away next Saturday.

Team: Hunt, Kingston, Grundy, Roberts, Loffler, Fewtrell, Peters, Turnbull, Jessavala, Stapleton, Fisher

Subs: Reeves, Cousins

Goal Scorers: Fisher, Grundy

Days & results like this are why we all play football. Away to Chesham, with 10 players unavailable, only eleven fit squad members, management team having to select themselves having both not played in months, including two subs carrying injuries preventing them from playing any part & to top it all off ending the contest with 10 men, with Luke Fewtrell harshly being sent off late in the game.

These games usually go one of two ways, you lose heavily or against all odds you get the most unlikely of results & win. Deservedly we achieved the latter & due to the circumstances this was by far the most satisfying performance of the season.

More to follow.

After last Saturday's loss to rivals Staines Lammas, the team needed to get back to winning ways. Louie, who recently took over from Pete Gray, kept the same side that played so well the previous week.

It was a scrappy encounter, with both sides creating half chances during the first period without really testing the keeper. The best chance of the half fell to the ever reliable Neville Roach after he was sent clear by Danny Bevins, but he dragged his effort wide from 12 yards with only the keeper to beat.

Hartley started to get control of the game and looked like the team most likely to score, and were rewarded for their patience just before half time when, after some neat football down the right hand side, Nathan Stamp found Scott Warwick, who cut inside on to his left foot and hit an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner with the keeper rooted to the spot. Hartley looked comfortable and went on to dominate until the half time whistle.

Only one change for Hartley, with Spence coming on for the injured Hamilton.

South Park regrouped at half time and started brightly after the restart and, on 55 minutes, Hartley's midfield was stretched and a fine through ball found the SP number 9 who fired passed Bledian to level the game at 1-1.

It went from bad to worse for the Hartley when Nick Kingston was shown a straight red card for a two footed tackle. This led to a change, Simon Rushe replaced Matt Brunt. The game had opened up and both sides were creating chances, and on 76 minutes, Ray Spence took on the SP right back, skipped passed him to fire a low cross into the box which was turned into his own net by the SP centre half.

However, the lead didn't last very long as, with 10 minutes to go, SP got back on level terms. A low cross from the left hand side left Bledian stranded and it was the simplest of goals for the SP striker.

Hartley were hanging on but couldn't hold out as, with 5 minutes to go, the ball played in from the left was met again by the SP number 9 to poke the ball home. There wasn't long for Hartley to respond and the final whistle went with SP coming away with a 2-3 win.

2 losses in two games that could easily have been 2 wins. Next game Knaphill at home, who are on a good run so will be a tough game.

Hartley Team

Fetzullahu, Stamp, Theo, Rimmer, Kingston, Brunt(c)(Rushe 55), Warwick, Bevins, Small( Touray 76), Roach, Hamilton(Spence45)

Subs not used - Daniels, Francis

Goals

Warwick - 43
OG - 76

Cards

Yellow - N/A
Red - Nick Kingston