West Herts U14s see off Eastcote to surge clear at the summit

The home team took some time to settle into the game with a nervy first 10 minutes. However, with some cajoling from the sidelines they grew into the game and started to create some chances.

They eventually got the job done with goals from Harvey Spencer and Matty Woods.

Spencer put them in front as he fired home after playing a one-two with the opposition keeper and the score at half-time was 1-0.

The second half was an end-to-end affair, with some cracking saves by Isaac Michaels in goal and excellent tackling by Lucas Allen, Alex Nazareth and Robbie Curwen keeping West Herts ahead.

Curwen received a green card from the opposition umpire, but the team proved up to the challenge of being down to 10.

After returning to 11 men, the game opened up and the home side’s hard-working defence and midfield created more chances for the strikers, with Woods finally giving West Herts some breathing room, providing a cool finish to make it 2-0.

The defence continued to hold firm until the end and the boys finished the game strongly.

The match was played in a good spirit and there were numerous individual performances that were deserving of praise.

However, the performance of the boys as a collective unit was perhaps most impressive and meant that the boys showed encouraging signs of moving away from being a group of talented young individual players and developing into a formidable team who play the game competitively, but in the correct spirit.