Baldock Town match report: Trident Tigers (30/09/07)

Baldock Town Crusaders Under 16 Match reports 2007/08

Trident Tigers: Sunday 30th September 2007

Venue: GPCA Link, Harlow

Baldock had a 100% record going into the game and only conceding one goal all season! Going into the game against the bottom of the league Baldock were expecting lots of goals in favour of there selves.

Baldock 6-0 Trident Tigers

Last season: L5-1 W5-2 W2-1

Subs: Durkin, Harman, Badrick, Harison



Captain: Budd

Top and bottom met each other for the first time this season and a strong Baldock side looked like they were going to demolish a weak and helpless Trident Tigers. Last season these 2 sides met on the first game of the season and Trident won convincingly by 5 goals to 1, a Pattison goal which gave Baldock the lead was the only Baldock response despite Baldock only having 10 men to start the game, then 9 when Harison was brung off injured after 5 minutes. Despite Baldock holding off Trident they were hopeless to prevent them scoring 5. The games since have been far better with a 5-2 in our favour and a narrow 2-1 win with Fletcher scoring the late winner despite Trident being 1-0 up with 10 minutes to go and from the 5th minute! Trident were looking for an unlikely revenge but the improvements to the squad bringing in county player Hobson, also the inclusions of Simmons (who played the last few games of last season), Slack from Baldock Knights and Reeves, plus a second spell for Harte and Barton recently being called up to the county side with Hobson. Trident had to work had to get past this new improved Baldock side! The only absence was Yennie. Durkin, Badrick and Harison were being rested for this game and were replaced by Jones (who was getting his first start on pitch), Harte (getting a start in his preferred position of left midfield) and Fletcher (getting his first start all season!), Harman had to settle for a place on the bench and hasn't started since the first game of the season.


The game was quiet at first with the game being even and I battling contest. Baldock had most of the possession and broke a few times from the right. Reeves was creating chances for the strikers who couldn't finish their chances off. With no real tests for Barton and with Trident only having 3 or 4 shots on goal all game, Baldock were left to score the opening goal midway though the first half. Budd broke forward and beat the keeper to the ball, lifting it over him and the ball trickled its way into the goal. Nothing really happened till 10 minutes after the goal was scored when Baldock won a penalty and centre back Cierzo was the only one opting to take it and left footed slid the ball into the bottom right corner despite the keeper diving the right way. Fletcher was put through one on one just before the break but despite his pace wasn't composed enough and scuffed his shot miles wide, it was a big chance to rap up the game before the break. The half time whistle blew and Baldock were leading 2-0. The only change was Harison on for an injured Harte who picked up the knock 5 minutes into the game. Baldock started the second half well and looked for more goals. Long range strikes were coming in from Baldock with the keeper being equal to them all the time until a superb goal from Fletcher 10 minutes into the half, he took the ball down from the left side just inside the area and with his back to goal he turned and struck the ball on the volley with his left peg into the top corner of the goal! Slack scored 5 minutes later when a long ball wasn't dealt with by the keeper and it fell to Slack on the edge of the box and as it looked like going over it dipped and found its way in! Slack scored his second a minute later when a ball played through found him and with his left foot drilled the ball into the bottom left hand corner from about 16 yards. 5-0 and on came Durkin with 23 minutes to go for Reeves. Baldock looked for a sixth when Harman came on at left back and Badrick right midfield. Durkin made a powerful strong run forward battling through 6 players but couldn't find a final ball. The game was a practically a walk over when Simmons added a 6th with 10 minutes to go, picking up the ball from the edge of the box and left footed on the volley the ball was drilled into the top right corner. Baldock ended there scoring there as they slowed it down a little but it could of been 7 when we won another penalty. Badrick stood up and took the ball from goalkeeper Barton who had ran half the length of the field and was given 30 seconds to take it so he turned around and went back to his area! Up stood Badrick and he slotted the ball home but Slack ran into the box whilst the penalty was being taken and instead of a re-take he awarded Trident a free kick! The game ended up 6-0 in the end, but if we would of took earlier chances it could of been double figures! Baldock remain top with 16 goals in 4 games and only the 1 conceded!


Next game: Bennington Youth


Venue: The grange, Letchworth (home)


Other results: Royston Crow Division 3:


Bennington Youth 4-4 Stotfold Juniors


Fairlands Blues P-P Sandy Colts


St. Neots Town Sky Blues 4-2 Garden City Rangers


Other Baldock Teams:


Baldock Town Lancers 4-2 Sawbidgeworth Town


League Table: Royston Crow Division 3:


ROYSTON CROW DIVISION 3 PAGE

Baldock Town match report: Fairlands Blues (23/09/07)

Baldock Town Crusaders under 16 Match Reports 2007/08

Fairlands Blues: Sunday 23rd September 2007

Venue: The Knights Templar, Baldock

With Baldock winning there first 2 games of the season they where hoping to keep up a 100% start to the season. Baldock sat 2 points clear at the top and were the only side not to concede a goal after Fairlands shocked St. Neots last week and Bennington getting held by Sandy.

Baldock 5-1 Fairlands Blues

Last Season: D2-2 W3-1 W4-3

Subs: Cierzo, Fletcher, Harman

Captain: Budd

Baldock came up against a speedy Fairlands side who shocked pre season favourites St. Neots to the delight of Baldock. Last seasons home game ended 2-2 as Baldock came from 2 down to draw including a last minute own goal from a Fairlands defender to rescue a point. Baldock also scraped a last minute winner last time they met all thanks to a last minute Brooking goal. This game was all about striker Slack as he grabbed 4 goals on his home debut to keep Baldock top! Fletcher signed on this week meaning he could play and Jones returned to the squad after being out with a virus. Centre back Jones replaces Barton in goal after Barton's call up for the County and another miss is right back Brooking with a knee injury.

The game got off to a lively start and Baldock could have been 3 or 4 up in the first 20 minutes. First chance came when a cross from the left was volleyed wide from just 6 yards by Budd. Slack created a couple of chances after getting clear, just volleying over from outside the box and a dinky lob resulting in the ball just going wide. Reeves created an opportunity for himself from the left and fired wide. A number of clear cut opportunities were created by Baldock's dominance and it was they who opened the scoring just after the 20 minute mark when a ball in from the right found Slack inside the centre of the 6 yard box and he diverted his header into the back of the net for his first league goal of the season. Just under a minute later Baldock caught Fairland's napping and from the right side Slack dribbled in and out and easily passed through 3 players and lifted the ball over over a 4th player before getting the ball onto his left peg and with only the keeper to beat and 8 yards out he drilled the ball into the corner. Fairland's sprinted forward looking for a reply and with the midfield wanting to attack it was always left with 5 or 6 against the Baldock back 4 but every time forced the players out wide and intercepted the ball before Fairland's could release a shot.
Baldock kept attacking and just after the half hour mark it was 3-0 and a hatrick for Slack who slotted his shot away from 10 yards. Fairland's released a first shot of the match which was blocked, then another straight at the keeper and scuffed one high over the bar. It wasn't to be the visitors day as Baldock pressed forward and struck a 4th 2 minutes before half time. Reeves grabbing his first goal for Baldock as he brock free from the left and lobbed the ball over the keeper and despite the defenders best efforts the ball found its way into the back of the net. In the second half Baldock weren't as lively and Fairlands put pressure on Baldock. Baldock had brung off Hart for Cierzo and Slack came off for last seasons top scorer Fletcher, Cierzo and Durkin swapping wings with each other. Hobson was staying solid and so was the whole back four with Simmons helping back most of the time. The full backs of Cierzo and Durkin went on some exciting runs up the flanks with promising results. Cierzo linked up well and found himself on goal only for the keeper to save. Durkin's runs resulted in many troubling crosses form the right and a shot with his left foot just curling wide. Not much trouble for Baldock as Fairland's had to try there luck from range though they couldn't get past the back 4. Baldock added a 5th goal with 15 minutes to go all thanks to Slack's 4th of the game! A ball over the top caused problems for the keeper which made him come out and Slack beat him to it, he turned onto his left peg and curled it around the keeper into an empty net. Fairland's went all out for it and left gaps in the middle which resulted in a couple of counter attacks by Simmon's but the defence got back to snuff out the danger and Harison was cruely played offside even though he seemed to be clearly onside. The last 5 minutes was vital though we were hanging on for a clean sheet but a ball to the left should of been delt with and we tried to pass it out. The ball was in that area of the field for a couple of minutes and got into the box. With the Baldock manager trying to tell them to get the ball clear a Fairland's player got his foot onto the ball and the ball was drilled into the bottom left corner. That was Baldock's first goal conceded this season! Baldock continued to attack and look for a 6th but settled for 5 and passed the ball around for the final couple of minutes. The whistle went and Baldock remain top after a convincing win!

Next game: Trident Tigers

Venue: The Knights Templar School, Baldock

Other results: Royston Crow Division 3:

Bennington Youth 3-4 Garden City Rangers

Stotfold Juniors 2-1 Sandy Colts

Trident Tigers 1-6 St. Neots Town Sky Blues

Other Baldock Teams:

Baldock Town Lancers P-P BSCFC Athletic

League Table: Royston Crow Division 3

ROYSTON CROW DIVISION 3 PAGE











I may also want to say that Baldock Knights under 15 manager J. Harper was disgusted by the FA allowing an academy side into the Herts County cup. The Knights are unbeaten in the league for over 2 years and are top of division 2 with 6 points out of 6 but went down 11-0 to Hitchin academy and was annoyed with the FA calling it a complete waste of an afternoon. The Crusaders under 16 manager J. Brooking agrees with J. Harper.

Baldock Pictures

Baldock from the Church Tower

St. Mary's Church

Baldock Stadium, Norton Road

Baldock High Street

The Knights Templar School, Main block building (K block)

Baldock Town FC logo

The Knights Templar Sportshall

Tesco extra

Baldock bypass tunnel under construction

About Baldock

Baldock is a small market town located near Stevenage in the North of Hertfordshire.


Baldock is formerly known as a market town and still is by most people. It is where the river Ivel rises near the north of Baldock. Baldock has a population of only 9,900 people.

Baldock was founded by the Knights Templar in the twelfth century (1100's). The town has been described as boring or 'Bald Oak' (dead oak) back in the early times of the town, but now in the modern times the town has become a more recognisable place with the towns layout and many buildings in the town centre which date back to the 16th century. In the last 100 years (since the early 1900's) the town hasn't really changed in its layout but newer buildings and the addition of car parks, traffic lights and new buissnesses and shops make the town better than it was back then.

For its size Baldock has a suprising number of pubs, but for the increasing number of pubs alot go out of buissness or move away from Baldock because of the low number of customers! Baldock has coaching inns which now operate as either pubs and hotels. In 1958 the much larger populated town of Letchworth (population 33,000) had no alcohol or pubs and by the mid 90's Letchworth only had 2 pubs and a hotel bar. This caused people from Letchworth to come over to Baldock for their use of alcohol and refreshments. Baldocks most popular and recommended pubs include:

• The Boot (73, High Street) 5.5/10
• The Broken Drum (31, Hitchin Street) 8/10
• Cock (43, High Street) 8/10
• The George and Dragon (1, Hitchin Street) 3.7/10
• George IV (London Road) 6.8/10
• The old White Horse (1, Station Road) 6/10
• The Orange Tree (Norton Road) 5.5/10
• The White Lion (46, High Street) 5.3/10

Human activity has happened in Baldock even before its discovery. Roman remains have been discovered around the town during building work. Even early Iron age remains have been discovered including a Medieval Lepar colony (a place to keep people with leprosy away from the rest of the population). Also known as a Leprosarium.


Baldock also has many shops, the most biggest and popular one is the massive Tesco extra superstore, just in the town centre. Before its convertion to a Tesco supermarket in the late 80's it was a location of a film studio which folded then after was replaced by the Kayser Bondor ladies stocking factory which produced parachutes during the second world war. Other local ministores and cornershops have gone out of buissness over the years but new ones have formed like Costcutter on the Highstreet and Londis on London road. There is also a bakery (days of Ashwell) on the High Street and a butchers on Church Street plus a couple of fish and chip shops. The restaurants in Baldock to visit include:

• Baldock snack bar (14b High Street)
• Balti Spices (1b Hitchin Street)
• Chai Garden Thai restaurant (1a Mansfield Road)
• China Garden Chinese Takeaway (2 High Street)
• Dine Bangla/the Mohan (21 Whitehorse Street)
• Golden Rickshaw (5a Whitehorse Street)
• Forno Italian restaurant (48 High Street)
• MacDonalds (A1 Radwell)
• Papas Kebab House (7 Whitehorse Street)
• Star of India (68 High Street)
• The Lancer Indian Cuisine (14c High Street)
• The White Horse (1 Station Road)
• Vecchia Trattoria (6 Whitehorse Street)

The main feature of this town is the old Parished church. The church was built in the 13th century and is the church of St. Mary giving the name of St. Mary's church. The churches vicor today is Reverent Andrew Holford. The church is located opposite Barcley's bank in Church Street and Hitchin Street. It also has a bell tower which anyone yearly can go up and look over Baldock.


The Secondary school in Baldock is called the Knights Templar School and is named after the towns founders the Knights Templar. The schools moto is 'Courage and Courtesy'. In September 2005 the school become a specialist school for Sports and the Performing arts and in February 2006 Ofsted described the school as 'Outstanding' and is one of the 8 schools in Hertfordshire to be currently reconised. The current Headmaster at the school is Andrew Pickering following the departure of Peter Chapman (who was headmaster for 22 of his 24 years at the school) in March 2006. The 7 houses are Bennett, Crellin, Hancock, Hine, Knights, Pembroke and Templar. Knights and Templar are named after the school, Pembroke is named after the Earl of Pembroke and all the other houses are former headmasters of the school. The school has always had good tradition with music and drama with a third of the school taking up a musical instrument or voice. In recent years former students have became famous for their dedication and work like Leanne Wilson who became an actress and was voted FHM's 70th most sexiest woman in the world in 2005. Rowan Oliver became drummer with the band Goldfrapp and in 2004 Frances Balmer won the BBC Proms young Composers competition! The KTS recieved alot of media coverage in 2002 over the fixing of A level grades by the examinations boards when the school became the first school in the country to appeal against the grades awarded to its students in GCE Phychology. Several years ago the schools GCSE Art results were in the top 10 in the country and most recently in July 2007 the schools Art department gained a Guinness World Record for the longest ever painting by numbers (144m). As a specialist school in Sport the Knights Templar school also has a million pound Sports hall just opposite the school which has a full fitness suite and just recently in September 2007 the flood lit all weather sports pitch was opened costing £500,000. The school now a days has around 1330 students! Other schools in Baldock include St. Marys junior and infants, Hartsfield and even Nursery schools such as Weston Way nursery school and Magic Moments.

Baldock use to have a football club called Baldock Town FC. The club existed from 1905 until 2001 when the club went bankrupt and ended up folding. Baldocks most successfull times were between 1995 and 1997 when they enjoyed 2 seasons in the Southern League Premier Division reaching the 4th qualifying round of the FA cup on 2 occasions. Baldock also brought up players like Kevin Phillips after being realeased from his youth contract at Southampton. Baldock converted Phillips from a right back to a striker and his goalscoring record for Baldock was very impressive. The Hitchin born striker got sold to Watford for £10,000 before moving back to Southampton and becoming the Premierships top scorer for the 1999-2000 season with 30 goals. He is now at West Brom and has won 8 England caps! Baldock though reformed a team in 2006 keeping its name, the club now plays in the 11th teer of English football in the Herfordshire Senior County league. There old pitch has been converted into an all weather, artificial pitch!

The town now has excellent free parking facilities in Tesco and in the town though fewer lorries come into the town and instead use the bypass that goes past the town. The bypass project was started back in 2002 and was designed to keep traffic from the A1 to the A505 towards Royston and Cambridge away from Baldock and stop traffic from coming through Baldock. Many people claimed the bypass ruined the enviroment, the scene of Weston Hills and homes for animals. The Bypass tunnel held a party to celebrate the success of the bypass on 11th December 2005 (the same day as the Hemel Hempstead oil blast which caused the fires smoke to be seen all over Herfordshire). The bypass was opened on 16th March 2006 and has been sucessful in keeping traffic out of Baldock.

Other interesting features in Baldock include the two banks (HSBC and Barcleys) the Libary and the community centre).

Baldock Town match report: Stotfold Juniors (16/09/07)

Baldock Town Crusaders under 16 Match reports 2007/08

Stotfold Juniors: Sunday 16th September 2007

Venue: Stotfold Rec'n Ground

After lasts weeks 4-0 victory over Garden City we were looking for 2 wins in 2 games, but it was against 1 of our bogey teams Stotfold.

Baldock 1-0 Stotfold Juniors

Last season: L4-1 L4-1 D2-2

Subs: Harte, Harman

Captain: Budd

Baldock went top after another victory and another cleen sheet. After disappointment of a last minute Fletcher goal disallowed for Baldock the last time the teams met Baldock were really fired up for this encounter. Last season the teams met on the second game of the season but the game was washed out with 20 minutes to go and the score being 5-2 to Baldock at the time. The result didn't count and bad luck struck for Baldock with 2 defeats and a draw to follow against Stotfold. A win was vital though St. Neots battered Sandy 8-2 last week and any slip up here could see them slip away from us by the second. Fletcher was missing and Jones was missing with a virus.

The game itself started well for Baldock. Passing it around nice between the wingers, full backs and central midfielders. The Stotfold defence was being split with balls going over the top and the strikers and wingers chasing the balls superbly. Balls kept coming into the box from wingers Reeves and Badrick, also some from full back Durkin. Slack kept being caught offside throughout the game even though a few of them were bad decisions from the linesman and this could of led to more goals. Stotfolds only decent chance of the half came when a ball in from the left caused problems, leading to a goal mouth scramble and eventually the ball was cleared and moments later a free kick on the edge of the box went just over. The keeper for Stotfold came out lots of time causing hesitation between him and the defence and this lead to a chance to lob him whilst he was out of goal. 2 opportunities came both to Slack. The first time the ball drifted over him but the keeper just got back in time to catch it and a second chance came when the ball came to him again in the same position but unfortunately the ball curled wide. The 1st goal came after 35 minutes when another ball was put over the top which made the keeper panic and he kicked the ball right to the feet of Simmons and from about 15 yards in the Stotfold half he got the ball under control made space and shot. The ball went over the keepers head and it looked like he was going to gather the ball easily. The ball took a couple of bounces and this time it just sneaked into the right corner. That put us 1-0 up at half time. Hobson came off for Harte after picking up a knock to the foot. Harte went in at right back and Yennie went centre back. Reeves swapped wings and Harman came on right midfield for Badrick. The second half started like the 1st but Stotfold began to put balls over the top but they were easily gathered by Barton. Stotfolds only effort on target came when Baldock were countered and an attack broke from the right but the Stotfold striker with only Barton in the way shot slightly to Barton's right and it was parried away for a corner. Stotfold had a few corners wiped into the front post and a couple of times was cleared leading to counters from the left. Some good build up play from the left started to develop from Reeves and some good link up play lead into some crosses which were nearly pounced upon by the strikers. Hobson came back on for Harison with 10 minutes to go and Reeves swapped wings with Harman. Hobsons pace helped though he could get onto long balls quickly! He linked up well with Harman just like Harison was when he was on. A few long rangers came in from Reeves and Simmons late on but there was nothing getting past the keeper. Vital headers were won by the defence and Budd and Simmons in the centre to keep Stotfold out. The wind wasn't helping Stotfold as every kick went towards the right and out of touch. We did create a couple of attacks in the final minutes when the ball was wiped in from the left and Slacks mistimed header towards the back post caused problems for the keeper with Budd challenging but the keeper got it at the second attempt. The final attack of the game came when the ball was cleared up field from Durkin and Slack got to it crossing the ball to the back post but it was just to long for Hobson to reach.The final whistle went in a frustrating game for both teams as they thought they both deserved more goals. The points went to Baldock to keep there 100% record going and 2 clean sheets in 2 games was deserved to see them go top!

Next game: Fairlands Blues

Venue: The Knights Templar school, Baldock

Other results: Royston Crow Division 3:

Sandy Colts 4-4 Bennington Youth

St. Neots Town Sky Blues 1-2 Fairlands Blues

Trident Tigers 4-5 Garden City Rangers

League table: Royston Crow Division 3:

ROYSTON CROW DIVISION 3 PAGE

Baldock Town match report: Garden City Rangers (09/09/07)

Baldock Town Crusaders under 16 match reports 2007/08

Garden City Rangers: Sunday 9th September 2007

Venue: Icknield School

This is the Crusaders first game of the season and with a strong line up we were looking for a good start to the season.

Baldock 4-0 Garden City Rangers

Last season: W 3-2 W 4-1 W 4-2

Subs: Durkin, Jones

Captain: Budd

Baldock knew they had to beat lower opposition like Garden City, if they stood any chance of challenging St. Neots Town Sky blues by the end of the season.

The game started well for Baldock and we created lots of openings from the start playing in Slack afew times and causing as much problems as possible! He was caught offside a few times throughout the game! 20 minutes turned and Baldock were awarded a penalty when ex Garden City player Reeves was tripped inside the box. The right sided penalty taker was back for Baldock after missing the tournament. Brooking stood up and send his penalty to the keepers right with his right foot and the ball was tipped onto the post only for it to come out to Brooking and he took his time to Cooley slot the ball away. Baldock had control despite Garden City trying to fight back with there pacey right winger causing problems for Yennie and Harman. The defence looked strong and there was great assistance from left winger Harman to help the defence stay solid. Harman came off just before half time for Durkin and a couple of minutes later the half time whistle blew. The second half kicked off and Baldock left the way they started and the balls over the top were causing problems for Garden City especially with the pace of Slack and Durkin. About 10 minutes into the second half it was 2-0 Baldock thanks to some good hold up play by slack and a great pass into Durkin and from the left hand side from about 10 yards Durkin Cooley curled the ball around the keeper leaving him with no chance. Baldock still wanted more and Jones replaced Brooking. Some intelligent play was worked by the midfield and strikers passing it around, making good dribbles and find good passes. Harrison late on into the game darted into the box and dribbled the ball past a few Garden city players before finally pulling the trigger and curled it via a deflection off Slack into the middle of the goal sending the keeper the wrong way. Harrison claimed the goal anyway! Harman took Harrison's place 10 minutes after the goal was scored. Another penalty was awarded with 10 minutes to go this time it was Slack he stood up and only just slotted it away but it had to be re-token for players running into the box before the penalty was token. It was token again by slack and chose the other corner this time and scored but it had to be re-token again for the same reason! 3rd time lucky? No was the answer straight down the middle and saved, it was cruel refereeing really. That led to a Garden City counter attack in which they nearly scored only for the height and presence of Barton. 2 minutes to go Slack got into the box again and was left clear and unselfishly squared the ball to Harman to put the ball into an empty net. The full time whistle went a deserved win for Baldock and hopefully there's many more to come.

Next game: Stotfold Juniors

Venue: Stotfold Stadium, Hitchin Road, Stotfold

Other results: Royston Crow division 3:

Bennington Youth 4-1 Trident Tigers

St. Neots town Sky blues 8-2 Sandy Colts

Fairland Blues 2-3 Stotfold Juniors

Other Baldock teams:

Baldock Lancers 1-1 Fairlands youth

League table: Royston Crow division 3

ROYSTON CROW DIVISION 3 PAGE

Baldock Town match report: Sandy tournament 01/09/07

Baldock Town Crusaders u16 match reports 2007/08

Sandy Tournament: 1st September 2007

Venue: Sunderland Road Rec'n ground, Sandy

This was only a warm up tournament for the upcoming season. (20 minute matches)

Game 1: Baldock 2-0 Garden City Rangers

The opening game was against a weak looking Garden City Rangers side who finished 2nd bottom of the Royston crow under 15 division 3 the previous season. We had beaten them 3 times last season (3-2, 4-1, 4-2). This was a good chance for new signings Hobson, Reeves and Slack to get some football under their belt and a 2nd debut was given to Hart. The game was quick going with Baldock taking the lead with in 5 minutes all thanks to a volley from A. Slack and it was him again 3 minutes later to make it 2-0. Our keeper Barton nearly gifted Garden City a goal when he spilt a easy ball what was put over the top of the defence but fortunately from the angle the Garden City Striker went for glory and hit over. Half time did approach and leading goalscorer from last season Fletcher was put on for Harrison despite the front 2 playing excellent football. No real big chances happened and Baldock tried to hang on for all 3 points and a clean sheet. Garden City had only 1 shot on goal all game which went just over. Fletcher picked up a head injury late on and was forced off with just a minute to go. The final whistle was blown and it was a good start to the tournament for Baldock.

Game 2: Baldock 1-0 Sandy Colts

The team was to be the team who finished the last game. New to our division was the hosts Sandy Colts who we played in a friendly on AstroTurf last season and came out 3-2 victors. This game once more was dominated by Baldock just like last seasons encounter. We went close with a couple of long range strikes but found the opener with a couple of minutes to go before the half. A penalty was awarded in favour of Baldock and 1st to the ball was A. Slack. Without Brooking for penalty duties A. Slack had the chance to make it 3 goals in 2 games. He put it to the keepers bottom right with his left foot and the ball slipped through the keepers hands and into the back of the net. The second half was slightly more entertaining. Sandy couldn't get out there own half and Baldock applied more pressure but couldn't find a second goal. Sandy eventually got the ball forward and in the last minute got the ball into our 18 yard box and released a first shot of the match which Barton parried. The ball was past Barton and there was a Sandy player to slot the ball home but to Baldocks relief it was disallowed for offside. Baldock escaped and hung on for a deserved 1-0 win which put us in contention to win the tournament!

Game 3: Baldock 0-0 Caldicot Town

A village team who Baldock had never met before entered the tournament despite not being in the Royston Crow leagues for the upcoming season. A local side near Sandy appeared on paper to be weaker than Baldock but had already shocked Bennington after a good comeback after being 2 goals down. This game proved difficult for Baldock and were getting dominated in the air by Caldicot. The balled stayed in the centre of the pitch for most the game and there speedy left winger was causing problems. We had managed to keep out some corners and balls into the box thanks to some good defending and kept solid like we had been doing throughout the last 2 games. Baldock only really had a couple of chances, the best of them coming when Durkins free kick from the left just inside the Caldicot half was wiped in and just missed everyone nearly finding its way into the back of the net but it sneaked just wide with 1 bounce. No real chances were created by either side and it always looked like a draw was on the cards. The game did finish 0-0.

Game 4: Baldock 0-3 Bennington youth

Knowing a win will win the tournement for Baldock they faced an inform Bennington side who finished 4th the previous season in division 3. We had won 5-2 and 4-1 against them last season but on our home soil, but did go down 5-0 at Benningtons ground. Bennington looked a strong force and where hard to break down as we looked for goals but only to be countered and the first goal was pocked into the bottom right corner and just 5 minutes later they lost our midfield and left 2 on 2 and with Benningtons pace it looked like 2 but the defence forced them out to the right and more bodies got back only for there forward to turn past our left back and cut through 2 players and calmly slot home. At half time Baldock had to get straight down to business and brang on Durkin and Slack despite picking up a knee injury. They also put pacey centre back Hobson up front to form a 4-3-3 formation! We played better and forced them into many mistakes but couldn't take our chances and with Benningtons pace it tired our players and they countered once more to put the game beyond doubt. We got frustrated and tried our best to find a consolation goal. With seconds to go we got countered again and the Bennington striker took it past our keeper and just before he made it an humiliation the referee blew the full time whistle. Our tournament chances were ruined but did finish runners up to Bennington.

next up: Garden City Rangers

Away at Icknield School, Archers way, Letchworth.

Sunday 9th September 2007, 10:30am KO

ROYSTON CROW DIVISION 3 PAGE