Hemel Hempstead Town 3 v 2 Berkhamsted

Saturday 27th July 2019
Pre-season Friendly
Vauxhall Road, Hemel Hempstead
Admission : £5.00
Programme: None
Attendance: 150 (estimate)

After aborting last Saturday's planned visit to Vauxhall Road thanks to an excessively priced entrance fee,  today's £5 admission was much more acceptable to me, all the more so as today's game could have been considered a more attractive one anyway, given that it would be a local derby, with just around six miles separating the two clubs.

Vauxhall Road is over 2 miles from Hemel Hempstead train station, which I decide to walk, mainly along the busy A414 dual carriageway following much of the same route as I had last Saturday to reach Leverstock Green. The colourfully decorated entrance turnstiles are located adjacent to the car park, and once inside, a path takes visitors along one length. Towards the corner there is a decent sized patio area with picnic tables provided, and a snack bar and burger van available in front of the clubhouse, which is quite dated and dark inside, but has a large function room to the rear. Surrounding the corner there is a large toilet block decorated in club colours, a wooden hut for pigeon racing club, and a small club shop. To the other side of the entrance, works are taking place which inevitably (but surely temporarily) results in a rather scruffy and messy look to the area, with the original small stand having had its roof taken off, but with a small amount of cover available to the side for standing room, which also serves as the disabled area. Behind the goal closest to the entrance there is a very smart all-seater stand, with bright red seats inside and sponsors graphics on the rear wall. Behind the other goal there is a similar sized stand but covers a small terrace to stand on, and towards one of the corners there is a double decker of portakabins, in the other corner there is a basic electronic scoreboard. Straddling the half way line on the remaining length there is a fairly small all-seater stand. Hard standing is available around the rest of the pitch. With trees all around and a quiet location, it is generally a pleasant place to watch football at, and will be all the more so when the works along the entrance length are completed. No programmes were produced for this fixture.

Hemel Hempstead have just completed their fifth season in the Step 2 National League South, finishing in 16th place in the 22 team division last season. Berkhamsted had a very sold season in their debut step 4 season, finishing in sixth place in the Southern League Division One Central, missing out on a play-off berth by three points.

After a week of hot, sunny weather, only punctuated by the odd thunderstorm, heavy rain arrived overnight and constantly fell throughout the morning. A resultant burst water main blocked my only path to my local train station, requiring a diversion to the next station along the line, and putting me back by an hour, as well as ensuring my clothes were soaked through. Happily the rain had stopped as I headed north, leaving an overcast afternoon in west Hertfordshire. This would be my third fixture in succession where the home team were from a higher league, and it looked like a third convincing home victory was in store, when Hemel Hempstead opened the scoring on 6 minutes following a terrific dribble into the box by Sam Ashford, with good close control keeping the ball away from several covering defenders, before eventually poking the ball past the keeper, off the inside of the far post and into the net. But Berkhamsted levelled the scores on 12 minutes when a cross from the right by Jonathan Lacey was volleyed home first time past the keeper by Lewis Toomey. And the visitors went into the lead on 27 minutes following a ball through the middle found Lacey through on goal, and as the keeper came out, Lacey dribbled across the area, seeming to take too long as the keeper and a defender managed to get back to cover the goal, but the ball was well struck inside the far post. Hemel Hempstead had some good chances to score again, a shot from 8 yards out went just over the bar and a header hit the crossbar, but Berkhamsted deserved their half time lead following a very solid first half performance.

In the second half, although the game generally was fairly even, Hemel Hempstead created plenty of good goalscoring chances. On 59 minutes, a dinked cross to the far post was headed just high and wide, whilst on 62 minutes, a low shot was parried and the rebound went over the bar. But they did equalise on 68 minutes when a well judged header just evaded the keeper's dive to nestle into the bottom right hand corner. On 75 minutes, a Hemel free kick was punched downwards by the keeper, and the rebound was struck just wide with the goal at his mercy - although it was more of a reaction shot. It looked like the game would end in a draw, until the last minute of added on time, when Hemel Hempstead scored the winner. The ball was pumped forward, and the subsitute keeper unconvincingly punched the ball away at the edge of his area amongst a couple of players, and the ball ran to a Hemel player who curled a superbly judged shot from about 40 yards into the empty net.

So, a victory that would have been expected for Hemel Hempstead, but there was much to be pleased about for Berkhamsted, who played very well and were far from outplayed by their opposition from 2 steps higher in the pyramid