Saturday 21st January 2006
Southern League Division One West
Hemel Hempstead Town 1  Bromsgrove Rovers 0
By Phil Baker

One of the pleasures of following Bromsgrove Rovers to away matches is some of the delightful grounds you get to visit. Vauxhall Road, home of today's opponents was no exception. A green and reasonably even playing surface even if there was a wicked slope, a few trees around the edge and the sun shining conned a few of us into thinking Spring was on its way.

Unfortunately, the result of the match took away some of the pleasure by the time darkness fell but the home team could not be denied their win even if a draw might have been a fairer result particularly based on Rovers first half play.

Manager Rod Brown was forced to re-organise his back four with Exodus Geohaghan suspended so Joe Williams returned to left back with Steve Hillman in the centre. Mark Benbow was at right back swapping positions with Matt Johnson who played right midfield. Wayne Dyer returned from injury into the centre of the park, whilst player-coach John Snape made his debut alongside with Carl Adams and Anthony Maguire sitting on the subs bench.

After impressive debuts against Paulton the week before, Neil Davis and Paul Moore retained their places with recent signing from Worcester City, James Smith the substitute striker in the bench.

Rovers had it easy against Paulton last week and Hemel were always going to be a tougher proposition with a good run of recent form equalling Rovers in the last six games of winning four out of six. Indeed they nearly took the lead with their first serious attack when Grant Carney found himself free out on the left, he slipped an inch-perfect cross the Anthony Thomas who hit a scorching volley that just went over Lee Evans bar.

That propelled the visitors out of any complacency and they dominated the rest of the half despite playing uphill and into a low sun. Best chances went to Neil Davis who could not slot in on 20 minutes from a narrow angle after neat work by Matt Johnson and Paul Moore. Johnson himself had a fierce shot touched over the bar by Steve Smith after John Snape won the ball in a well-timed tackle.

Ben Porter replaced Neil Davis after the interval but it was the Hemel who looked the better side despite a number of their passes going astray and two good chances being skewed wide of the uprights by Stephen Sinclair and Scott McCarthy when it looked easier to put the ball in the net.

It was Sinclair who got what proved to be the winner on the 66 th minute when unmarked he tapped home at the far post after the impressive Anthony Thomas dummied Gavin Hurren to create space and time to chip in a fine pass. It may have been marginally offside but the assistant referee's flag stayed down.

Rovers introduced Anthony Maguire and Carl Adams to boost the midfield and played out the half with just three men in defence and despite getting the ball forward, there was no way through the resilient home defence who were quite happy to sit on a one goal lead and rely on the occasional raiding party into enemy territory.

A disappointing result for Rovers but nothing to get depressed about. Passing was good with few balls being given away, the defence did well in a number of difficult situations and debutante John Snape fitted well into mid-field and looked to be a natural replacement for Scott Hadland. Unfortunately conversion of balls into the box continues to be a problem but when he gets a choice of fully fit strikers hopefully that will be less of a problem. Interesting that Rod Brown suggested the players stop playing pretty football and get more stuck in. No sign of any increased aggression or worse still, route one football and what we saw was an entertaining game with both teams intent on playing skilful football.

Finally, a quick word for the home fans who really got behind their team with lots of singing accompanied by a horn and drum but could they enrol for singing lessons as they sounded dreadfully out of tune.

Hemel Hempstead Town:  Steve Smith, Julian Old, Narada Bernard, Dave Fotheringham (Darren Sorrell (86 mins), Perry Norman, Scott McCarthy, Stephen Sinclair (Adbul Yoki 86 mins), Chris Herron, Grant Carney, Anthony Thomas, Paul Edgworth. Subs not used: Fabro Valenti, Daniel Rose, Stuart Denton

Bromsgrove Rovers:  Lee Evans, Mark Benbow (Carl Adams 75 mins), Joe Williams,
Gavin Hurren, Steve Hillman (Anthony Maguire 75 mins), John Snape, Matt Johnson,
Wayne Dyer, Paul Moore, Neil Davis (Ben Porter 45 mins), Kevin Banner. Subs not used: James Smith, Tim Clarke.

Referee: Mr J Toyer (Luton)
Attendance: 197 (Hemel's best of the season)

Baker's MoM for Bromsgrove Rovers: John Snape