Hampstead Town lost two Athenian League points at Cheshunt on Saturday, the home side thoroughly deserving their win by three goals to one. Hampstead, at what must be regarded as full strength, gave a very disappointing display, the chief weakness being in the forward line. Wise and Ashby alone upheld the reputation of the side, and even they could not reproduce their best form. Reinke, in the centre, was quite off-colour; Cousins, at outside-right, was for the most part overpowered. Hampstead's only goal came from Bucci, who sent in some very good centres, but often failed to use his opportunities. Thorlby was the pick of the half-backs, although Pease improved as the game progressed. Wardlaw had to cope with the stronger wing. The backs had a tremendous amount of work to do, and as usual the brunt of it fell upon Clarke, who did not hesitate to give corners when there appeared no other way of averting trouble. Margetts miskicked at times, but on the whole did very well. Goodwin seemed at fault when Cheshunt scored their second goal, but having regard to the amount of pressure exercised by the Cheshunt forwards, he may think himself fortunate that he was not beaten more than three times. Some of his saves were wonderfully good.

In consequence of Wardlaw losing the toss, Hampstead had to face a very strong wind in the first half. For quite a long time Cheshunt were attacking, but the forwards failed to make allowances for the wind, and more often than not the shots went very wide of the mark. They forced corner after corner with no result, Goodwin showing to advantage. Groves, the Cheshunt goalkeeper, did not have to touch the ball until the game was well advanced, but his first test was one of the hardest in the match, Ashby nearly scoring after Wise had sent in one of his surprise shots. Groves did well to clear at the expense of a corner, which was well placed, but Reinke headed by. This effort was a mere flash in the pan, the Hampstead's forwards being weak whenever they got near goal. Beautiful chances were also missed by the Cheshunt forwards, but at length the home side took the lead, A.S. Fox finding the net. Within a few minutes, with the help of Reinke, Bucci equalised, but H.W. Haynes, at centre-forward, who had been responsible for 33 goals this season, placed Cheshunt ahead once more.

When the teams retired for a short rest it was felt that Cheshunt had not made the most of their chances, and that, with the wind against them, the lead of one goal was not sufficient to give them victory. As it happened, however, Hampstead were more disappointing than they had previously been. Certainly they attacked more, but Cheshunt's defence was sound, and the home forwards showed much better ball control. Once there seemed a possibility of Hampstead equalising when a free kick was taken only a few yards from goal, but Groves, who had conceded the free kick by carrying the ball further than the prescribed distance without bouncing it, made a grand clearance. Afterwards the visitors fell completely away, and when Halfhide, Cheshunt's outside-right, had scored the best goal of the match, the result was never in doubt.

Cheshunt are now level on points with Hampstead, with a match in hand. The return League match is due to be played at Cricklewood-lane on Monday, April 26th. Cheshunt have to play six away League matches within a fortnight, so that altough they have spoilt Hampstead's chances of the championship, it is more than probable that the end of the season will find the local club better placed than their victors of last Saturday.