Next up – Hertford Town
Saturday, 27th December at Hertingfordbury Park, West Street, Hertford, Herts SG13 8EZ
Pitching in Southern League, Divison One (Central); kick off 3pm.
Admission
Adults £10, Concessions £5, Child £1.
Advance ticket sales available at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/htfc/1984359
Be aware that there is a £1 booking fee on every ticket bought in advance other than those for a child.
Our opponents
Formed in 1908 Hertford have made exactly 200 appearances in our fixture list. There have been few seasons when we haven’t met in cup, league or friendly matches. Our 104 league meetings have taken place in seven different competitions starting with the first on 12th December 1908 in the Herts County League. They have played at Hertingfordbury Park ever since their formation though not always in blue shirts. Early programmes show their colours as black and white with informal references to the club as the Magpies.
Their best performance in the FA Cup has been to reach the fourth qualifying round in 1974. To get there they beat Ware in a replay of the third qualifying round.
Hertford have won the Herts Senior Cup twice.
Form guide
For the first time in a long while Hertford will start this match as clear favourites. They are currently second in the table with some very good wins in their record both in terms of the scalps they have taken and the scores they have achieved. Earlier in the season there might have been talk of waiting for their bubble to burst. Well that hasn’t happened and they are currently well positioned to reach the play-offs. They are unbeaten in their last six games with 21 goals scored and seven conceded. Oh, and they have home advantage.
Ware are on an unbeaten run themselves; it’s four games long of which three have been won. Although several first choice players remain on the injured list the Blues seem to have weathered the worst of that particulalr storm. The outcome was that they dropped from second in the table but Ware are now clawing their way back into contention for the play-offs. One of those now back from injury is Jack Grosvenor who, if selected, will make his 50th appearance for Ware in this game.
Previous Meetings
Of the 104 league meetings so far Ware have won 43 and lost 39 scoring 192 goals on the way and conceding 171. Our best win is 11-0 in the Herts County League game of 12th March 1910 (scorers G Newell 4, Bernard Catling 3, F Chapman 2, B Chapman and W “Jack” French one each). Our worst defeat was in the Delphian League Cup game of September 1st 1962. Derek Tucker and John Wood scored to give us a 2-1 lead but Hertford equalised in the dying moments and went on to win 7-2 in extra time.
Our most recent meeting was earlier this season when Hertford won 2-0 at Wodson Park. They are now in a position to get their first league double over Ware since the 2001/2 season.
Commentary
Pete and Symon will be at the game. You can hear their commentary from 2.55pm at https://90minuteslivefootball.mixlr.com/events/4732064
Match Officials
The referee for this match is Patrick Stratton who we last saw for our 2-1 defeat at Biggleswade Town just over a month ago. The assistant referees haven’t covered Ware before this season and are Andrew Wheaton and Patrick Yates.
