Buntingford Town 4 Met Police Bushey 1 TOWN made a perfect start to the season with an excellent performance on Saturday. Manager Paul Attfield was left beaming after a dominant performance saw his team top the table on the opening weekend. We ve taken

Buntingford Town 4 Met Police Bushey 1

TOWN made a perfect start to the season with an excellent performance on Saturday.

Manager Paul Attfield was left beaming after a dominant performance saw his team top the table on the opening weekend.

"We've taken our pre-season form into this first game and played with great confidence and composure at a pace that was enjoyable to see" he said.

"The tactics employed by Met Police was surprising as well as exceedingly frustrating but our youngsters didn't become intimidated and only worked harder which was also pleasing.

It is obviously very early days but this squad of players are very determined to be successful and if we can maintain the levels set in the past three to four weeks we will be a difficult team to beat."

The home side got off to the best possible start when they took a third minute lead. Mark Wright won the ball on the right wing and carried the ball into the area before squaring for Luke Robins to fire into the empty net from eight yards.

Met Police reacted well and created their best chance moments later when a neat passing move ended with a curling 16-yard strike that rattled the face of the Town crossbar.

Town though always looked threatening in attack.

Wright and Ashley Townsend were a constant handful in attack and Luke Robins' and Tom Malins' pace out wide was always too much for them to handle.

The hosts continued to dominate, and doubled their lead in the 13th minute when a simple but effective move down the left ended with Robins crossing for Wright to cushion a neat eight-yard header into the bottom right hand corner.

The referee then began to take centre stage, dealing with the frustrated visitors' approach play that saw three first half yellows and one deserved red in the 40th minute, all for recklessness.

After the second goal Town could have extended their lead further with Matt Turl unlucky to head against the post on 20 minutes from a Malins free kick.

A number of corners and free kicks littered the visiting penalty area but, despite a number of scrambles and near misses, Town were unable to extend their lead before the interval.

After the break, Town again started well, and made it 3-0 within a minute when Malins won a 50-50 in midfield and released Turl who chipped the keeper from 20 yards for a fine finish.

Police reduced the deficit five minutes later when Town keeper Damion Williamson was harshly adjudged to have pushed a forward after a weak back header from Chris Hardy. The resulting penalty was converted in off the left upright.

On 55 minutes Police were reduced to nine men when Malins was deliberately kicked, and Town were able to keep ball and also lower the pace of their game to a degree.

With the added space all over the pitch Town created some excellent chances. Townsend was twice thwarted by goalkeeping blocks, Robins had an effort scrambled off the line and a number of other efforts were wasted to a degree.

Townsend completed the scoring with 10 minutes remaining with a deserved goal after racing on to a though ball and angling his shot past the oncoming keeper.

Town: D Williamson, l Endacott (C Wisson), D Chaffey, C Hardy, J Babbage, M Turl, M Smith, T Malins, A Townsend, M Wright (G Christie), L Robins (J Stephens). Unused subs: D Cain, W Turl