Match Report

Hendon
3
Cheshunt
0
Date:
Saturday 25 September 1926
Competition:
Athenian League
Attendance:
2000
Venue:
Hampstead

Match Report

Following their victory over Enfield by 5-2, Hampstead defeated Cheshunt on Saturday by 3-0, and by obtaining four points from these games, now occupy a very good position in the Athenian League. On their play in these matches other points should quickly follow. Weak places in the team have been strengthened, and the outstanding feature in the match on Saturday was that, for the first time this season, not a goal was given away. T.T. Brown, who played in some of the trial games, but had to stand aside for R.S. Allen, is now shaping well in goal. He had to deal with many difficult shots from the Cheshunt forwards, but showed clever anticipation, and it is now felt that with Parsons to help Clarke, who has been terribly overworked, opposing clubs will find it difficult to notch many goals.

Hampstead took the field without Pease and Thorlby, the former having to attend as reserve for the Southern Counties match at Dulwich, and Thorlby was suffering from an injury.

Miller, one of the smartest men in the Cheshunt team, formerly played for St. Albans. Howell was a few minutes late putting in an appearance, and his arrival was signalised by Hampstead taking up the attack, some very good work being done on the left wing. The forward line, however, did not work satisfactorily, there being a lack of understanding between Evans and the wing men, Shearcroft in particular, and as time progressed Cheshunt quite held their own, Miller being very thrustful. He was inclined, however, to underrate the value of his colleagues, and with advantage might have made some passes instead of clinging to the ball. A fine bit of passing by the Cheshunt was speedily brought to naught by Clarke, who at the opening was not quite so sure-footed as usual. For some reason or other, Hampstead's left wing was neglected, Butler being the most conspicuous forward, but Shearcroft did not seem happy. Once Evans hit the bar after receiving a centre from Butler, and there were quite half-a-dozen occasions when Groves was tested to the full. At the other end Brown was not idle, one of his best efforts being in dealing with a shot by Harper. Half-an-hour had gone by before a goal was scored, this being credited to Evans, who beat Groves at the second attempt. The remainder of the first half went in favour of Hampstead, Wise almost beating the goalkeeper after a fine dribble by Howell.

During the second half Hampstead had the game fairly well in hand, although the consensus of opinion was that their play did not reach the standard shown against Enfield. Far too many chances went astray, but, fortunately for them, Cheshunt were also at fault. The ball was early netted by Hampstead, but someone's hand instead of foot had been used in doing so, and a goal was rightly disallowed. After five minutes, however, Shearcroft scored from a nice centre, and the third goal came from Evans, to whom the ball was headed by Wise. Cheshunt tried desperately hard to score, and had quite a fair share of the play, but Brown gave a capital exposition of goal-keeping.

The absence of Pease was keenly felt, but Turner, who has played at full-back on two or three occasions this year, made quite a good substitute for Thorlby. Parsons is a valuable acquisition. Clarke was not quite at his best in the early stages, but did well in the second half. Butler worked very energetically at outside-right, and on the other wing Howell did much useful work although he did not have the good fortune to score. His hat trick on the previous Thursday had led supporters to hope that he would be in equally good shooting form again. Of the visitors Groves, Halfhide, Smith and Miller did well.

Report by Hendon & Finchley Times

Hampstead

1
T T Brown
2
R S Clarke
3
Albert Parsons
4
C E Turner
5
W Houghton
6
Bob Wardlaw
7
F G Butler
8
Harry Shearcroft
9
Freddie Evans
10
Cecil Wise
11
George Howell

Match Events

31''
Freddie Evans
51''
Harry Shearcroft
65''
Freddie Evans

Cheshunt

1
E Groves
2
T Wicking
3
B H Ray
4
G W Odell
5
V Dodd
6
J Bell
7
G Halfhide
8
G H Smith
9
G Martin
10
Ted Miller
11
C Harper