Hertford Heart Can't Top Corinthian Spirit

A resilient Corinthian Casuals side rebutted an early opening goal from Hertford Town to score three times and enter the FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round in style despite going down to ten men early on.

Scrappy - that was the best word to describe the quality of the opening ten minutes. And it was also the best word to describe Hertford Town’s opener. Ricky Light tapped the ball in after a scramble in the penalty area before celebrating with the noisy travelling fans behind the goal in only the seventh minute. Then, with a little help from the Bracken Brothers and the supporters, Casuals eased into their usual style of play as a glancing header from Jack Strange nearly brought an equaliser. However, Hertford were still threatening and nearly netted a second strike via a bullet header from Michael Toner but terrific reflexes from Danny Bracken gave Casuals a lifeline.

A switch in possession in the 25th minute saw the dominating Hertford lose the ball to the alert, attacking frontline of the hosts. Galloping towards the exposed penalty area, Gabriel Odunaike and Josh Uzun interchanged the ball cleverly before pacey no.9 Odunaike reached the left flank and crossed brilliantly for Uzun to slide past the keeper and into the net. It was 1-1.

Hertford were determined to retake the lead after a Strange clearance off the line and a quick save from no.1 Bracken nearly made it 2-1. However, soon, the score would be 2-1… but not to the away side. Three minutes after Uzun’s equaliser, Jordan Clarke’s magnificent midfield play saw the no.8 slip the ball past a wall of yellow shirts towards Max Oldham. The no.11 was calm and composed when he classily side-footed the ball into the bottom left hand corner to gift Casuals with the lead.

The final moments of the first half depicted a confident and assertive Casuals side controlling the game- everything was going to plan. That was until left-back Tommy Smith was given a straight red card for allegedly lashing out on a yellow shirt, which baffled the Corinth supporters. So at half-time, Casuals did have the 2-1 lead, but would face an eager Hertford side with a one-man advantage.

Mu Maan replaced Cunningham at half-time in an interesting change of tactics from Bracken. Fresh from an impressive assist in the first goal, Odunaike’s effort early in the second half was only denied by Charlie Mann, the Hertford shot-stopper. Casuals started well, but soon deteriorated, and had to thank keeper and captain Danny Bracken for a long string of superb saves. In particular, a piledriver of a shot in the penalty area was dealt with extraordinarily by Bracken as the keeper parried it away and was lauded by the Casuals supporters for his efforts.

Two more changes for Corinthians in the last ten minutes saw Reyon Dillon and Jamie Byatt enter the fray; Bracken looked for the decisive third. In the 89th minute, a Hertford set-piece was cleared by the Casuals defence and a fast-paced counter attack ensued with Reyon Dillon powering towards a Hertford man menacingly. Stepovers left the defender for dead before Dillon was one-on-one with the green shirt of Mann, and dispatched the ball through the legs of the keeper and into the net. It was a classic counter attack, and a classic Reyon Dillon goal. It was his third of the season, and it was Casuals’ all-important third goal of the match.

The victory was almost in the bag for the hosts when Hertford left-back Jay Lovell was given a second yellow card and dismissed- the last minute was played 10 men vs 10 men.

Photo credit: Stuart Tree

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