Young Stotfold side caught napping

Stotfold fielded a young squad at Roker Park that contained six 18-year-olds and a 17-year-old, but against SSML Premier bottom side Harefield they were confident that they still had enough,

Although the opening 45 minutes ended goalless Stotfold probably put in their best first half performance of the season in terms of territory and possession.

They just need that bit of luck, rub of the mud and quality in the final third to press home the advantage. Half chances fell to Ross Maddox, Mark Ellis and Drew Cardines without any success.

Into the second period and, despite the positive first half performance, Stotfold were caught napping on 47 minutes. A lofted ball into the box found Harefield’s Luke Baldwin completely unmarked with time to bring the ball down, look up and slot home.

It was against the run of play but Stotfold only had themselves to blame for their sloppy start to the second half.

On the hour mark the introduction of James Lamptey brought about a change of formation to a 4-4-2 from the starting 4-5-1 in an attempt to get back into the game, but despite lots of huff and puff the quality just was not there from Stotfold and Harefield recorded just their fourth win of the campaign.

They didn’t deserve to win but a draw would probasbly have been a fair result.

On Tuesday night Stotfold earned a 1-1 draw at Broxbourne.

The home side went ahead through Ryan Wade but Mark Ellis levelled for Stotfold on 74 minutes to get a point in a fairly even game.

Stotfold now have back to back league home games, against Wembley on Saturday and Cockfosters on Tuesday.