HERTFORD TOWN 3 AFC 1
Hertford Town 3 AFC Dunstable 1 (1-0 Half time)
Southern League Central Division 1
Hertingfordbury Park, Saturday 8th November 2025.
Attendance – 301
Match report by Richard Church.
A better performance by AFC but once again ultimately disappointing to fall to a defeat albeit against a very impressive Hertford team – like ourselves, a footballing side, full of youngsters who like to get the ball down on the deck and play football.
We started on the right foot from the off and created the first real opportunity of the game following a nice passage of play when the ball was played in to the box but we just couldn’t get a shot off. The ball was cleared to the edge of the box and Tommy was fouled as he retrieved the ball. The resulting free kick from Maks was straight at the keeper. Just after that a ball in to the box saw George spin and get a shot off but it went just wide. Another chance fell to Adam but he headed just wide. Hertford were playing a little on the counter at this stage and had a few breakaway opportunities but could not convert. Following another piece of good play down the right, Tommy played the ball in to Tra but his shot was again straight at the keeper.
Hertford then took control of the game and put us under pressure from the half hour point. One shot from distance forced Matt in to a decent save and shortly after that the home side number 11, Marcus Painter started to turn on the style – he had one run down the left wing and our players probably had about 3 attempts to tackle him but he evaded them all and he eventually shot just wide. He was at it again with 5 minutes of the half to go but this time he played a neat ball in to Billy Mardell-Smith who produced a fine finish to put the home side 1-0 in the lead going in to half time.
A couple of early substitutions from AFC early in the second half saw Avto replace Tra and Euan Warlow replace Abel for his debut – so good to see a lad who has come through the age groups make a first team breakthrough. Euan soon made an impact when, with 14 minutes of the half gone he played a lovely through ball to Tommy who made it 1-1 with a delightfully taken bending shot just inside the post. AFC were back in the game and had a great opportunity to take the lead when a through ball from Maks was played in to the box but Tommy and Avto seemed to get in each others way and failed to get a shot away.
The turning point of the game came just after half an hour of the half. Matt (who had been booked 10 minutes earlier for time wasting) took down the Hertford striker as he went round him which resulted in a penalty and a second yellow and sending off for Matt. Tommy took over in goal and his first task was to pick the ball out of the net as Noah Mosanya fired the ball home from the penalty spot.
The ODs chased the game then with nothing to lose and George, Tommy and Avto all had half chances which came to nothing. Just as we went in to 7 added minutes at the end of the game, we won a free a free kick just inside the Hertford half. Tommy took the kick with everyone up in attack and Hertford cleared the ball and ran it goalwards with Tommy desperately running back towards the unguarded goal – Jesus Mendoza with possibly one of the easiest goals he will ever score fired in to the empty net to complete the scoring at 3-1.
Another frustrating and disappointing result which hinged on the sending off.
Man of the match as nominated by the AFC committee was Tommy – for his goal, relentless running and for going in goal and making one world class save!
Team line up (subs in brackets); Matt Bonsu, Axel Ampadu (Joshua Clark-Anderson 73), Carmichael Uchenna, Maks Jarzabek, Shawn Joseph, Ben Lynch (Gabriel Adelowo 71), Adam Ahmad-Pearce Tyrone Shiham 69), Abel Kyeremeh (Euan Warlow 57), Tommy Blennerhasset, George Joyce, Tra Lucas (Avto Akhsiashvili 55).
