Evo-Stick Southern 1 Central
Tuesday 25th October 2016
Histon supporters, players and staff will all have gone home wondering how they didn’t take anything from this game but at the end of the day if you don’t put the ball in the net you can’t win. Despite enjoying the bulk of possession throughout we didn’t really test Constable in the Potters Bar goal whereas our visitors took their chances and went home with all three points. Manager Lance Key named two new signings in his starting XI for this game, defender James Chivers (Newmarket Town) and striker Justin Leavers (St Ives Town) had both been signed earlier in the day and both went straight into the side. Marcus Hall also made his home debut after joining from Soham on Friday last week.
Lamar Simpson gave the Scholars an early lead with a smart angled finish beyond Conroy in the 8th minute and in all honesty we hadn’t really gotten into it at that point. As the game progressed though we settled down and spent much of the time in the oppositions’ half trying to force a way through.
Jake Chambers-Shaw seized on a loose clearance by the keeper with 15 minutes gone and sent the ball back first time only to see it drift agonizingly inches wide with the keeper beaten. Allan, Gould, Chambers-Shaw and the impressive Justin Leavers were working well together to create openings but the final ball and finish wasn’t there and we went into the break one down.
The second half was more of the same with most of the play in the Potters Bar half, our visitors content to soak up the pressure and look to break on us. We continued to probe but couldn’t open up the defence and two minutes into added time Michael Murray sealed the points for Potters Bar, linking well with Eoin Casey before firing past Conroy.
That seemed to be that but within a few seconds Elkanah Sibanda had headed one into the corner past Constable. It was suddenly 1-2 and we seemed to sense there might be an equalizer there for us and that elusive equalizer so nearly came with the final move of the match. Leavers, Ourtilbour, Gwynne and Chambers-Shaw were all involved to keep the ball live in the area before Matty Allan’s goal bound drive was blocked and seconds later it was all over.
Disappointment then despite another decent performance amid continuing signs of improvement but the Manager will be keen to see the results start to match those performances, and sooner rather than later.
Histon: Niall Conroy, James Chivers, Elkanah Sibanda, Ross Munro, Max York, Cameron Watson, Danny Gould (Jos Gwynne), Marcus Hall (Aysa Ourtilbour 78) , Justin Leavers, Jake Chambers-Shaw, Matty Allan.
Histon unused subs: Simon Unwin, Will Gardner, Ben Yeomans.
Histon yellow cards: Justin Leavers, Cameron Watson.
Histon goal scorers: Elkanah Sibanda (90+3).
Potters Bar Town: Ravan Constable, Billy Baird, Garry Jones, Sean Grace (George Robinson 42), Carl McLuskey, Chris Doyle, Joe Bennett, Ryan Forde, Michael Murray, Eoin Casey, Lamar Simpson.
Potters Bar Town unused subs: Alfie Gibbs, Aaron McArdle.
Potters Bar Town yellow cards: Billy Baird.
Potters Bar Town goal scorers: Lamar Simpson (8), Michael Murray (90+2).
Attendance: 125
