Post by admin on Oct 24, 2023 21:43:11 GMT
Hempstead 0 Braintree Town 2
by David Ward
A highly impressive first half playing without doubt their best football of the season set the Iron up for an outstanding win against the Tudors at Vauxhall Road on Tuesday evening which left manager Angelo Harrop "absolutely delighted and pleased for the players and in reality we should haver won by a bigger margin."
It was all down to some superb passing and cohesion right across the side who followed the manager's pre-match advice of pressing high which the home side, managed by former Iron boss Bradley Quinton, simply couldn't cope with and the Iron should have been at least three goals up by the interval.
"I'm really delighted at the way we set about the opposition because we kept pressing forward from the off and some of our interchanging of play was the best I've seen from the side," he continued. "I've said for sometime we are going to show the quality we have in our side and really put in an excellent performance and we certainly did in this game tonight."
He went on: "I don't think they could live with us in reality because we played some excellent football right throughout the side and I know at this level you can't keep the intense pressing we showed without players getting tired so that's why we brought substitutes on in the second half and it paid off.
"Everyone played their part and a special praise has to be for Will Davies who scored both goals, hit the woodwork and narrowly missed a couple of other chances and he should have ended up with his first hat-trick for the club," Harrop continued. "He's had a difficult time recently with his pending transfer to a bigger club falling through but I think in this game he's back to his old self, ably supported by other players around him."
Harrop also praised the large group of Iron supporters who made the trip to Hertfordshire adding: "What a fantastic crowd for a midweek game because they kept up their vocal support throughout the game and I know the players really appreciate it."
The only surprise for the watching crowd is that the Iron only scored once in the first half despite dominating the game and that came on 25 minutes when Davies hit a fierce first-time shot into the bottom corner of the net worthy of a higher level of football.
The home side naturally came out to try and fight back at the start of the second half but some stout and well organised defending their attacks were repulsed and the Iron weathered the short storm and continued to threaten every time they went forward into the home side's half.
The much needed second goal came on 75 minutes when Davies was again on hand to force the ball home into the net from close range and the striker was unlucky not score a hat-trick when on 86 minutes from the edge of the area he drove the ball goalward only to see it come back of the crossbar and scrambled clear by defenders.
The Iron went close again three times before the final whistle and the final score was not a true reflection of their dominance throughout the evening when they should have won by five or six clear goals.
Next up for the Iron is a challenging game away to league leaders Yeovil on Saturday with Harrop adding: "What a tremendous game to look forward and what an atmosphere there will be - they had a National League South record crowd of over 6,000 for their home game against Weymouth this evening.
"We will be going there fully prepared and we know it's going to be hard but if the players can reproduce tonight's performance we can cause an upset," he added.
by David Ward
A highly impressive first half playing without doubt their best football of the season set the Iron up for an outstanding win against the Tudors at Vauxhall Road on Tuesday evening which left manager Angelo Harrop "absolutely delighted and pleased for the players and in reality we should haver won by a bigger margin."
It was all down to some superb passing and cohesion right across the side who followed the manager's pre-match advice of pressing high which the home side, managed by former Iron boss Bradley Quinton, simply couldn't cope with and the Iron should have been at least three goals up by the interval.
"I'm really delighted at the way we set about the opposition because we kept pressing forward from the off and some of our interchanging of play was the best I've seen from the side," he continued. "I've said for sometime we are going to show the quality we have in our side and really put in an excellent performance and we certainly did in this game tonight."
He went on: "I don't think they could live with us in reality because we played some excellent football right throughout the side and I know at this level you can't keep the intense pressing we showed without players getting tired so that's why we brought substitutes on in the second half and it paid off.
"Everyone played their part and a special praise has to be for Will Davies who scored both goals, hit the woodwork and narrowly missed a couple of other chances and he should have ended up with his first hat-trick for the club," Harrop continued. "He's had a difficult time recently with his pending transfer to a bigger club falling through but I think in this game he's back to his old self, ably supported by other players around him."
Harrop also praised the large group of Iron supporters who made the trip to Hertfordshire adding: "What a fantastic crowd for a midweek game because they kept up their vocal support throughout the game and I know the players really appreciate it."
The only surprise for the watching crowd is that the Iron only scored once in the first half despite dominating the game and that came on 25 minutes when Davies hit a fierce first-time shot into the bottom corner of the net worthy of a higher level of football.
The home side naturally came out to try and fight back at the start of the second half but some stout and well organised defending their attacks were repulsed and the Iron weathered the short storm and continued to threaten every time they went forward into the home side's half.
The much needed second goal came on 75 minutes when Davies was again on hand to force the ball home into the net from close range and the striker was unlucky not score a hat-trick when on 86 minutes from the edge of the area he drove the ball goalward only to see it come back of the crossbar and scrambled clear by defenders.
The Iron went close again three times before the final whistle and the final score was not a true reflection of their dominance throughout the evening when they should have won by five or six clear goals.
Next up for the Iron is a challenging game away to league leaders Yeovil on Saturday with Harrop adding: "What a tremendous game to look forward and what an atmosphere there will be - they had a National League South record crowd of over 6,000 for their home game against Weymouth this evening.
"We will be going there fully prepared and we know it's going to be hard but if the players can reproduce tonight's performance we can cause an upset," he added.