Pitching In Isthmian League North Division
Saturday 19th September 2020
It’s been a long time coming but our return to league action after a six month lay off resulted in all three points courtesy of two fine first half strikes from Buster Harradine.
Lance went into this game without Ed Rolph, Dany Gould and Andy Ballester and his problems only got worse when James Chivers picked up an injury in the warm-up. This lead to a reshuffle with Tobi Lawal replacing Chivers for his first start for the club, Lee Smith dropping back to centre half, Simon Swinton going to right back and Charlie Lewis switching to left back and it took a while for the team to get into any kind of rhythm early on as the hosts started brightly.
However with half an hour gone Buster Harradine opened the scoring, taking a cross on his chest at the back post, directing it past the defender in front of him before arrowing a left footed shot across Collins and into the far corner.
We were much more settled by this time and a second goal came just before the break. A free kick was awarded 25 yards out with Harradine, Lee Smith and Max York all looking interested in having a go at it. It was Harradine though who stepped up to curl a perfectly struck shot over the wall and into the corner to double our lead.
Swifts came out quickly in the second half as you would expect and got a goal back on the hour mark through Chris Gregan’s close range finish and you sensed they had their tails up. Evan Key was only inches away from restoring our two goal lead moments later though when his header came back off the bar but other than that the pattern was plenty of possession for the home side as they threw more and more at us in search of the equaliser. Dan Brown, making his 100th appearance for the club was still marauding up front when we broke, ably supported by the impressive Tobi Lawal but he couldn’t find a way to mark his 100th game with his 50th Histon goal. The defence was under pressure as we entered the final stages but Lee Smith was in fine form alongside skipper Max York and the two centre backs were strong.
This was a fine team effort and a very hard won three points to give us the perfect start to the 2020/21 season.
Histon: Phil Peachey, Simon Swinton, Charlie Lewis, Lee Smith, Max York, Evan Key, Tobi Lawal (Sam Reed 82), George Coy, Dan Brown, Josh Dawkin (Finley Wilkinson 86), Buster Harradine.
Histon subs not used: Sam Roach.
Histon yellow card: Max York.
Histon goal scorers: Buster Harradine (32 & 42).
Attendance: 247.
