Southern League One Central, Saturday 2nd March
The first Saturday in March saw me over at Hertingfordbury Park for the very first time, I was in the town to see a friend who was having a gathering for her 40th birthday so earlier in the day and saw that Hertford Town were hosting a local rival in the shape of Welwyn Garden City so it seemed like a good idea to go and take that in as well, after all I was over there anyway so why not.
It was a good job that the pitch was also 3G as had it been grass it probably would not have taken place due to all the wet weather we have been having lately, including today, the river and fields surrounding the ground were flooded and I did think that if the river burst it's banks would we even get out of the property!!! Thankfully the rain did abate and the sun shone once I arrived at the ground although it did not feel like spring that's for sure!!! It was very cold.
The ground is one of those old ones with character with some modern mixed into it, the old stand is the only covered seating and to be honest I didn't chose to sit in it mainly because unless you sat in the centre of it and towards the front you would probably have a blocked view and also watch some of the game through the windows at each end of the stand, but it certainly had character that was for sure, and there was a covered terrace at one end known as 'The Stable End' and this was quite an old looking structure too, but a decent terrace and one that when filled looks pretty good.
Their was a small bar there and a decent burger place too nearby serving all you needed at a football game, and of course the pitch was pretty modern as were the fencing and dugouts, it's a decent facility and all that Hertford Town need right now, and plenty of room for the 377 who were in attendance for this game to see who could grab bragging rights in this derby fixture.
Now the hosts were on a four match winning run heading into this fixture, and sat eight in the division only a point off fifth placed Cirencester Town who occupied that final play off spot in the division, so they knew that if they made it five wins on the bounce they could end up in the top five come the end of the game, and they would have been confident against a Welwyn Garden City side who were seven points behind them in 13th spot.
The Citizens themselves were in a mixed run in the last few games, since the turn of the year they had lost three times and won the other two, with a very exciting 5-4 success at Biggleswade last time out, so who knew what we would get this time around, on paper it looked like the hosts may edge it, but in a derby game you just never know do you.
For the opening forty minutes not a lot happened and it certainly did not feel like a derby game, very subdued at times to be honest, however just before half came two goals out of nowhere, firstly the hosts grabbed the lead when a ball behind the visitors back line saw Sonny Coughlan-Brown run onto it, and with visiting keeper Donnabhan Green way off his line, the hosts attacker duly lobbed him superbly and saw the ball bounce into the empty net.
But, barely a minute or so after this and whilst I was still typing my tweet for the Hertford goal, Welwyn responded in emphatic style after their number nine Lynton Goss burst through to fire a brilliant effort beyond hosts keeper William Kiers into the bottom corner and bring his side level immediately, meaning the sides went into the break all square.
Who would, if anyone, go on and win this game? The Citizens thought they had gone in front early on in the second period but saw Kiers make a wonderful stop to deny Goss a second goal of the contest, superbly tipping wide his effort, and then down the other end Coughlin-Brown almost got on the end of a Wilson Palomeque Bernal centre, this after the former had sent him down the right hand side.
However, just beyond the hour mark, the visitors got their noses in front when a corner from the left by Dernell Wynter was floated to the back post and keeper Kiers kind of got underneath it and was unable to prevent centre half James Kaloczi from nodding home and sending the small band of WGC fans behind that goal wild with delight, they now had something to hold onto, could the hosts respond?
In a word, no, their only attempt on goal saw a Bernal effort go straight at Green in the final ten minutes or so, but The Citizens did more than enough to hold on and claim a very good win here, ending the hosts winning run in the process whilst they made it three wins from four, getting themselves back into the play off picture as a result.
Welwyn have games in hand and are now only eight points off the play offs now, and are now up to ninth and only one place and four points behind today's opponents who have played three games more, Hertford are now four points off the top five now too, so they are still in a good position despite a first defeat since the end of January.
A good enjoyable battle it was though, played hard but fair, and as derbies go it wasn't too bad in terms of niggle and silliness, so that was good too, just two teams playing to win, and it was the visitors who did more, especially second half, to earn this and claim the points at Hertingfordbury Park.
Full time Hertford Town 1 Welwyn Garden City 2
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