Hendon 3-2 Harrow Borough
Ryman League Premier Division
Vale Farm
Monday 29th August 2011
If, like me, you were lucky enough to have been born this side of 1965, then you find yourselves in the midst of Hendon’s best start in living memory. A start that was extended on Monday afternoon with a 3-2 win over Middlesex rivals Harrow Borough that didn’t really quite hit the heights of a 5 goal thriller, but was an absorbing contest all the same. There was, of course, a familiar face in the Harrow dugout in the shape of Dave Anderson. We enjoyed 3 good trophy filled seasons under the Ulsterman’s stewardship before AFC Wimbledon came a calling, and of course, we went through 6 months or so of crazy indiscipline under Tony Choules and Gary Farrell before the current Captain of the Good Ship Hendon took charge.
A lot has changed since Anderson left Claremont Road (sob, RIP) in the summer of 2004. He enjoyed 3 seasons in charge of AFC Wimbledon and further spells as boss at St. Albans City and Northwood, as well as stints as number 2 at Windsor & Eton and more recently Slough Town. In addition to this, he’s enjoyed a burgeoning reputation as a media pundit both in print and as a regular on BBC London’s Non League Show with Caroline Barker. He was offered the job at Earlsmead, his local club at which he’s been assistant on about half a dozen occasions, this summer despite, I believe, having not applied. However, he was happy to get back in the hotseat and take on the challenge of rebuilding the side following the departure of David Howell to Clarence Park.
In some ways, I think he finds himself in a similar position at Harrow as he did when he took over at Hendon replacing a high achieving, popular manager and having to rebuild pretty much from scratch in the process. It took a good few months for things to bed in at Claremont Road, the difference in quality of the side he fielded in the first match of 2001/2 at Purfleet to the one that won thrillingly 6-4 at Billericay at the end of 2001 was huge. In came Steve Forbes, Steve Butler, Mark Cooper, Martin Randall, Eugene Ofori, Byron Bubb and, erm, Leon Woodruffe to transform our fortunes. Harrow haven’t had a great start, 2 points from their first 4 matches isn’t the return Anderson or their fans would have been after, but he will be working extremely hard to bring the players he wants and needs to turn things around in. Two things he, and his assistant Mark Butler both have in spades is experience and a bulging book of contacts.
In that search for that winning formula (which simply put is Team A Goals(Harrow) >Team B Goals (Opposition) = 3 points), Anderson made numerous changes to the side that drew with Aveley on Saturday. That number was six with Manny Williams, Gary Jones, Wayne Walters, Papa Agyemang, Danny McGonigle and Troy Powel-Quarry all coming in for their first starts of the season. Gary McCann for his part, named an unchanged starting XI for the first time this season, whilst Danny Dyer and Brad Fraser were both named on the bench for in place of Aaron Morgan and Junior Lewis.
The first half was relatively even, both sides looked lively on the attack, but neither created much in the way of clear cut chances before the break, despite the number of dangerous crosses that were whipped into the penalty area. Powel-Quarry, who seems to have been at a number of clubs, including Reading, AFC Hayes and Eastleigh amongst others had the first effort on target, a low drive from distance that was comfortably fielded by Berkeley Laurencin. One of the big worries amongst Boro fans so far this season has been the size of their side. Powel-Quarry certainly added a little height and strength to their attack, whilst Manny Williams at right back also added a physical presence. Indeed, it was Williams who prevented Hendon taking the lead shortly after as Greg Ngoyi flicked on Elliott Godfrey’s dangerous free kick and Williams was alert enough to head the ball behind for a corner as Dave Diedhiou rose to nod the ball in at the far post.
There were then loud penalty shouts at either end for handball, both of which were waved away by the referee who seemed well positioned on both occasions. Christian Nanetti, who if his final ball matched his haircut would be an outstanding player, was next to test Berkeley with a low left footed drive that swerved wickedly from all of 30 yards or so. The Hendon custodian made sure he got his body behind the ball as he spilt it and was able to pick up the rebound with no Harrow attacked following up. Nanetti may well be back at Vale Farm this coming weekend as there is a fair amount of speculation that Lewes have lodged a 7 day approach for him. He looked very lively and bright, and clearly has a lot of ability. All too often though, there was no end product from the promising build up and he was eventually hauled off just before the hour mark. In fairness to him, I don’t think playing him wide on the right does him many favours – he’s predominantly left footed but was always looking to go outside Scott Cousins, which of course then left him on his right foot. I can see why people like the idea of ‘inverse’ wingers, so that it can allow them to cut inside and get shots away, but I’m a much bigger fan of getting down the line and being able to whip dangerous crosses in for the centre forwards to attack. Maybe I’m just old fashioned.
The best chance of the half fell to the Greens. A free kick into the Harrow box was headed on by Casey Maclaren and met by the head of Carl McCluskey. The ball beat the dive of Nick Pope and bounced agonisingly off the inside of the far post and back into the still grounded goalkeeper’s grateful grasp. (Nice alliteration there). Pope was called upon to make a couple more very good interventions from dangerous crosses into the box, in particular from Cousins and low down from Archer but it was from one of these balls that the deadlock was broken.
Given some of the comments I heard at half time, I would wager someone in the crowd made a joke at some point about the goalkeeper’s surname and not liking crosses. How very Catholic satire. In actual fact, I thought he dealt pretty well with what came in at him on the whole. He did like to punch clear rather than catch more often than not and this is often seen as poor, indecisive or weak goalkeeping. I remember reading an interview with Gianluigi Buffon, I think it was a number of years ago, when he said that he was always taught to punch more than catch, the reason being that the chances of a punch ending up at the feet of a striker is less than the chances of a fumbled catch giving a centre forward a simple tap-in. I think there’s some credit to this opinion, not that I’m any great expert, and it seemed to be one that Pope shared. A Cousins cross was punched clear at full stretch by the on-loan Charlton man, who then went to ground. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the ball fell kindly for Dave Diedhiou just outside the penalty area. Looking up, the big midfielder coolly measure a lob over the grounded keeper and beyond two defenders covering the line into the back of the net for his first goal of the season. I love seeing Dave score just for the celebration. He always treats it like his first ever goal and relishes the feeling.
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| Not the Harrow Goalkeeper: Pope Benedict Flapping. |
There we were then at half time a goal to the good. Harrow might have been feeling a little hard done by to be behind given their efforts, but the Greens ensured there could be no arguments shortly after the resumption.
Powel-Quarry had already passed by an excellent opportunity for the visitors straight after the restart when he was played through and rather scuffed his shot straight at Berkeley from a slight angle when he was made to pay five minutes after the interval by a killer 2nd goal from the Greens. A corner was whipped in by Cousins and missed by everyone on its way through, green and red shirts alike. It may even have bounced before reaching Carl McCluskey who had the simple task of nodding the ball into the corner of the net at the far stick beyond the despairing, flailing Nick Pope for his 2nd goal in consecutive games.
Boro worked hard for a way back into the game as Hendon began to play a little deeper, leaving half time sub Isaiah Rankin to feed off scraps up front. The back four though remained steadfast until the 68th minute when Michael Peacock, already perhaps lucky not to have been yellow carded moments earlier when scything down Jon-Jo Bates on the edge of the box, unceremoniously bundled Wayne Walters to the floor as Laurencin went up to claim a free kick into the box. There was no doubting the penalty award at all, and the referee this time did book the number 4. To describe it as needless or unnecessary wouldn’t be doing it justice at all. Gary Jones neatly stepped up and sent Laurencin the wrong way. Finally, after 338 minutes (plus a few extras for added time here and there), the dam had been broken.
The goal buoyed the away side and they pressed on in search of an equaliser. Enjoying plenty of possession and almost camping in the Hendon half they found Peacock and Wharton in very determined mood at the heart of defence. They had another penalty shout denied when James Busby and Danny McGonigle clashed in the area, the referee deciding that the Hendon midfielder had won the ball cleanly and that McGonigle was in fact the offender. With 9 minutes to go, Isaiah Rankin chased a long clearance downfield and contested it as it bounced with Shane Wanklyn. The ball reboundedoff the Harrow centre half and caught him off balance giving the experienced striker the fraction of a second he needed to take a touch and then send a superb low drive left footed beyond the exposed Pope to give the Greens back their two goal advantage.
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| Isaiah Rankin celebrating a strike for Brentford |
The game rather petered out until the 4th minute of time added on when McGonigle, who will be integral to Harrow’s season wriggled his way into the Hendon box and fired a low shot across goal. Laurencin did well to get down at full stretch and push the ball away, unfortunately only to the feet of David Lawrence who was following up, unlike the Hendon back four and tap in to reduce the arrears. Any hopes of a comeback were dashed no more than 30 seconds later when the referee brought the action to a conclusion. The Greens breathed a sigh of relief and can enjoy sitting top of the pile for a while longer whilst for Dave Anderson, although there were some bright spots, it is back to the drawing board.
Player Ratings
1. Berkeley Laurencin: Another decent performance by the Hendon goalkeeper who is enjoying a good start to the season and will be giving the manager a headache when Sean Thomas is available. Left no chance with either goal. 6/10
2. Ryan Wharton: Has come on so much since his last spell with the club, another flawless performance at centre half where he is linking up well with Michael Peacock. 7
3. Scott Cousins: Played a pivotal role in the first two goals and the quality of his dead balls was excellent throughout the afternoon. Did a good job on the dangerous Nanetti as well. 7
4. Michael Peacock: Another dominant performance at centre half keeping Jon-Jo Bates mostly quiet to extend his excellent start to the season. Blotted his copybook slightly conceding the penalty and picking up a booking. 7
5. James Archer: Not who I expected to come in at right back, but was very good. Sound defensively and provided an outlet at times going forward as well. Another who has started well. 7
6. Dave Diedhiou: I love the big fella. Unassuming, gentle giant. Strong in the tackle, good use of the ball and a very subtle finish 7
7. Jamie Busby: Another quietly effective performance from the midfielder. Not afraid to put his foot in, passed the ball better than he did against Concord and carried the ball with a threat as well. 7
8. Carl McCluskey: Looks the find of the summer. Oustanding performance. Good passing, and provided great support to Ngoyi in the first half. Unlucky first half, got his reward shortly after the break. 8
9. Greg Ngoyi: Has run himself to an absolute standstill and replaced at half time. Linked play very well and has proven my doubts as to his suitability to being a lone striker totally wrong. 7
10. Elliott Godfrey: Was more involved than against Concord and complimented the quality of Scott Cousins’ dead balls with his own in-swingers. 7
11. Casey Maclaren: No one works harder than Casey. The final ball is still often missing, but he more than makes up for that with his willingness to run and put his body on the line. 7
Subs
12. Isaiah Rankin: On at half time for Ngoyi, did well chasing down the Harrow centre halves and got his deserved rewards for an impressive start at the club with a lovely finish late on to open his account for the club. 7
15. Jerome Federico: First I’ve seen of the former Hayes man and his appearance was sadly curtailed shortly after coming on suffering a cracked ankle that looks likely to keep him out of action for quite some time.
17. Bradley Ambrose: Replaced Federico and ran around a lot chasing lost causes.
Match Rating:
Star Man: Carl McCluskey
Verdict: Another good all round performance to round off a fantastic first 9 days to the season. Hard working, decent defensively and with much more of an attacking threat than we had against Concord. A quarter of the way to achieving safety – far more important than being top of the table at the moment.
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