Blacks play good football but go down to Stortford

Bishop's Stortford CFC Athletic 3 Hormead Hares Black 1

Under-11s Division 2

HORMEAD Hares under-11s played away to Bishop's Stortford CFC Athletic on Sunday in bright conditions which matched their football for most of the first half.

However, it was Athletic who took the lead on 24 minutes before Joseph de Souza was unlucky not too score with a stunning shot from the left hand edge of the penalty area, which hit the underside of the bar and somehow bounced away from goal.

Max Kerr worked hard from midfield and the defence was generally well disciplined in keeping their line, with the voice of Charlie Gates reminding them from between the sticks.

The second half saw Hares under more pressure, now playing into a slight breeze, and their offside line was beaten on a few occasions.

Owen Hughes, who was awarded man-of-the-match, put in some extra work and made one vital interception which went high up in the air for a corner.

This followed a superb goal line clearance from George Berrett after Gates had managed to just get a hand on the ball to slow it down.

Some pressure led to a couple of corners and Hares scored with Harry Jarman getting a foot on the ball which was then deflected home for an own goal.

But within two minutes Hares were behind again thanks to a thunderous shot into their net after they failed to efficiently clear a corner themselves.

The two Jakes in defence worked hard, but with only 11 players Hares started to slow, especially after an injury saw Max Kerr sidelined.

Athletic generally managed to successfully marshal the Hares front pairing of Michael Hicks and Jarman. A third goal settled the result for Athletic.

This was a disappointing result for the Hares in a sporting and evenly contest match.