Hatfield Town Battle Well

A Jon Nurse double helped Barnet victorious against Hatfield Town in the Herts Senior Cup.

Barnet are through to the next round of the Herts Senior Cup thanks to a 4-1 win over Hatfield Town.

Hatfield Town Fc manager Micky Nathan Shuffled his pack around for this cup game giving some players much needed game time.

In came Bradley Swaile at right back, Andrew Julius at Centre Half, Karl Lewis, Ike Nzuruba and Adam Arnold.

With lots of possession Hatfield Knew it was going to be a hard night and working hard off the ball was going to be important. The Bees struck early with Jon Nurse opening the scoring after 22 minutes before Iffy Allen added a second four minutes later.

Yasin Benel-Mhanni added a third from a 30-yard free-kick just before half-time and although Hatfield pulled one back in the second-half Nurse secure the win with his second in the 90th minute.

The first opportunity of the match fell to former Barbados international Nurse who had a shot blocked away for a corner with three minutes played.

14 minutes later the Bees were piling forward once more with Allen who had an effort well saved after a neat step over from Nurse deceived the Hatfield defence.

With 20 minutes on the clock Barnet were gifted an opportunity when Benel-Mhanni disposed the dawdling Hatfield keeper before finding Allen whose shot was cleared.

Just two minutes later the Bees did take the lead when Neil Cheek was unable to hold a shot and the ball fell to Nurse who tucked it away.

Four minutes later it was 2-0 when Allen burst through the Hatfield defence before rounding the keeper and passing the ball into the empty net.

Despite a poor start to the match Hatfield rallied in the latter stages of the first-half and they had chances to get back into the game.

Two gold opportunities fell to Ike Nzuruba but he wasted both shooting wide after a poor touch from Kier Dixon before missing an open goal from eight-yards after Nick Jupp misjudged a searching cross.

The Bees made the home side pay with four minutes of the half remaining when Allen was clipped on the edge of the box and Benel-Mhanni curled the free-kick over the wall and into the corner.

Hatfield came out with all guns blazing following the break and Jupp had to be alert to deny them twice in the opening minute.

Jupp was however beaten with 50 minutes played when Samson King swept the ball home after Jupp’s initial save.

Hatfield continued to pressurise the Barnet defence but Jupp was alert on a number of occasions to deny them a second goal.

Benel-Mhanni continued to impress in the number ten role for Barnet and he almost got a second in the 77th minute when his free-kick rattled the crossbar.

15-year-old Jack Taylor was also introduced in the second-half showing tremendous composure in the centre of the Barnet midfield.

With 90 minutes on the clock Nurse sealed the win when he smashed the ball low into the corner to make it Hatfield Town 1 Barnet 4 at the final whistle.

A score line that was flattering in the end, as Hatfield Town FC showed that they are capable of competing and with all that is lacking is that clinical finish, it would have been much closer.

Team:
Cheek (Olajide), Swaile, Julius, Allen, Toonga, Nzuruba, Lewis, Arnold, King, Murad, Dash Subs: Webb, Nathan, Welch, Succhley