TUDOR TALK

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Saturday 25th August
Southern League Premier Division
Hemel Town 3 Rugby Town 1

A just result in the end - but boy did the Tudors make their fans sweat for it in the hot sunshine.
Rugby took an early lead before anyone had time to blink. After just three minutes Stephan Morley converted a well struck free-kick from twenty yards out, the ball going in via the underside of home keeper Steve Smith’s bar.
On nine minutes though, Hemel should have been level. Defender Aaron Stringfellow was adjudged to have handled the ball, but Drew Roberts hard struck penalty kick crashed off the post and away to safety.
Hemel immediately took the bit between the teeth however, and a period of heavy pressure eventually saw them gain a deserved equaliser, when Nathan Bowden-Haase stabbed the ball under keeper Allesandro Barcherini from close range, as Morley failed to clear Dean Cracknell’s free-kick into the box on eighteen minutes.
But at that point however the match simply died. Suddenly from a place of superiority, the Tudors strangely stopped what they were doing and let up on a Rugby defence that was floundering.
Bowden-Haase came closest after that by looping a shot onto the top netting and at the other end David Staff shot over the bar from twenty five yards, but that was it until the turn-around chance wise - although just before the half time whistle there was a rotten decision by both linesman and referee, when they failed between them to punish Barcherini for deliberately handling the ball outside his area to stop Garry Sippetts from scoring when clean through.
Hemel did take the lead on fifty three minutes though, when Chris Herron’s cross was headed into his own net by Rugby skipper Craig Herbert under pressure from Sippetts, and for a moment Hemel once more threatened to open up a wide gap in the scoring. But three minutes later came the incident that changed the match again.
Sippetts rose to reach Herron’s cross and Barcherini came out to punch - winning the ball. In the clash of bodies that followed however the Rugby keeper was hurt and unable to carry on, defender Stringfellow eventually being chosen to take his place in goal, and substitute Mark Edge on for the keeper.
But as at Ware in the Charity Cup earlier this season, The Hemel players seemed to feel that taking advantage of the situation by scoring some more goals was an ungentlemanly thing to do.
A minute later Hemel were awarded a second penalty kick following another hand ball by Tom Brenard, and Stringfellow predictably picked the right way to go (as did everyone in the crowd) to save Roberts’ tame side foot kick easily.
Stringfellow to his credit then pulled off a fine save to deny Sippetts low to his left, but Hemel chances now came few and far between as Rugby took up the challenge, and moved forward as the home side sat back.
Fortunately their finishing proved to be as bad as Hemel spot kicks, although at times the home fans felt that it was only a matter of time before they scored as Hemel took more and more risks at the back. Staff & Akin Aladetoun both had half chances to draw the match, whilst on the break Sippetts wasted a glorious opening at the back post and Stringfellow once more saved superbly - turning Paul Edgeworth’s long range shot around his post.
But deep into injury time as the home crowd began to chew on their nails, Hemel finally made the points safe, with Josh Sozzo converting at the back post from a low pass by Sippetts, after the striker seemed to have lost the chance to score himself.
Rugby to their credit didn’t stop trying, but in the end the Tudors had just a little too much for them, looking a much better balanced side with the return of skipper Edgeworth to his normal midfield role.

Hemel Town:
Steve Smith, Jamie Kearns, Chris Herron, Fabio Valenti (Steve Sinclair), Nathan Bowden-Haase, Yiadom Yeboah, Ollie Burgess, Dean Cracknell (Adam Martin), Garry Sippetts, Drew Roberts (Josh Sozzo), Paul Edgeworth. Subs (Not Used): Robbie Kean & Ian Brown.

Rugby Town:
Allesandro Barcherini (Mark Edge), Aaron Stringfellow, Stephan Morley (Scott Musgrove), Craig Herbert, Delroy Gordon, Tom Brenard, Matt Gearing, Willis Francis, Akin Aladetoun, David Kolodyinski (David Stone), David Staff. Sub (Not Used): Brad Harris.