Lovely morning, pitch looking in good condition, but a strong wind blowing down the pitch which is against Hill in the first half and has a significant influence. However, Hill (with several players on holiday/ unavailable) are slow out of the blocks, unlike Broxbourne, and on 2 mins Hill cannot clear an attack on the edge of the box, leading to a pretty clinical strike from Broxbourne to put the visitors one up. Hill play themselves back into the game in patches, although are still second to the ball on occasions as Broxbourne close any space quickly, as they continue to do all game. George J tidies up neatly several times in midfield. Biggest decision of the game comes on 12 when Aiden looks to have equalised from a tight angle. The Broxbourne lino flags for offside but the Ref initially over-rules him and gives the goal. The lino has to be applauded for his determination, as he runs on the pitch to reverse the ref's over-ruling him, as he suggests the Hill player was offside when the ball was played forward, despite the deflection from the Broxbourne defender. Which is the correct decision of course, although the Ref could have been clearer if he hadn't initially over-ruled the eagle-eyed lino. Shortly after Sam makes a good save as Broxbourne continue to look dangerous and on 20 minutes Hill are punished again for their general lethargy as the Broxbourne forward travels a long way unchallenged, before crossing to the far past for a tap in. 0-2.
The second half starts and Hill have the wind with them, which certainly changes the dynamic slightly. Both Ben's, H and B, make their presence felt and test Broxbournre's keeper, but the stopper is having a very good game and repels every attack, with the help of the woodwork on occasions. Hill enjoy the majority of possession but no goal comes as Broxbourne defend stoutly and show good teamwork and organisation. A late break leads to a penalty, which Broxbourne finish to lead 0-3 shortly before the end.
The gaffer summed it up well at the end, if you have an off-day in this league you get punished and this was certainly an off-day for Hill, who have performed much better throughout the season. Second to most things, not able to get themselves going/ gee themselves up today, and gave the opposition too much space. Still, this was a wake up call ahead of Friday's semi-final of the ironically named Mid-Week Cup vs Stortford, so lets hope normal service is resumed then.
The Gaffers/ Management team of Hill can console themselves as football fans by seeing the ex-manager of their teams (WH and NUFC), Alan Pardew, doing so well at Crystal Palace. Thanks for him by the way!
Friday will be a different story............
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