Written by Allan Mitchell.
Hemel Hempstead Town 2 Salisbury FC 2
Vanarama National league South fixture 10th August 2024
New Tudors boss Bobby Wilkinson summed things up perfectly in his post-match interview saying that it “was a game of two halves” as the Tudors opened their account with a hard earned point at The Focus Community Arena.
Credit: Club Photographer, Jemma Sear
Indeed Salisbury could have been out of sight by the interval and it was only a combination of excellent goalkeeping and poor finishing that kept the scoreline down.
The Tudors were struggling to find any real cohesion with their passing often being misplaced whilst the visitors, who had kept most of last season’s promotion winning squad together, looked very slick and quickly got into the stride, causing Hemel’s backline some problems.
Craig King saved superbly with an outstretched foot when Ronan Silva found himself honing in on goal very early on and the same move was repeated shortly after with Silva again being denied by Kings foot, the ball rebounded to ex Tudor Craig Fasanmade but he snatched at his shot and fired it high and wide with the goal gaping.
Hemel weren’t really creating much at this stage although Alfie Cerulli just failed to get a full contact on a cross field ball into the box and could only guide it wide.
On 25 minutes Hemel lost the ball out on the left and it was quickly delivered into Fasanmade who wasn’t going to waste this opportunity tucking it past the helpless King from close range.
The Tudors had a brief spell of pressure, forcing a succession of corners but they didn’t cause the Salisbury defence any problems and they were made to pay for another defensive mistake on the edge of their own box, losing possession when trying to play out from the back, the ball was fed down the line to Ragguette, who had been causing problems with his pace and he got to the line before pulling it back to Fasanmade who doubled the lead on 38 minutes.
Jaden Perez almost made it 3-0 when he curled a shot in from the edge of the box but King reacted superbly to tip around the post.
Brandon Barzley made a rare foray into the Salisbury half and drove to the edge of the area before firing in a shot that Ryan Gosney saved well to his right but that was the only moment of note in a disappointing first half for Hemel.
Wilkinson made a change at the interval bringing on Jack Davies at right back and changing formation in an effort to get something out of the game. Whilst Hemel dominated possession for the first 20 minutes of the second half the visitors didn’t look too troubled and were content to sit back and protect what they had.
This backfired on them somewhat when Wilkinson brought Ricardo German and Trae Cook-Appaih on and shortly after he added Connor Kurran-Browne into the mix which gave the home side more attacking options and they were rewarded when Kurran-Browne won the ball out on the right before driving in a cross that was met by German who forced it home via a deflection off a defender on 75 minutes.
Then in the 80th minute Salisbury were guilty of losing the ball out on the left, Trae Cook-Appiah did superbly well to rob the defender before laying it back to Brandon Barzley who smashed it home from just inside the box to level the scores.
The odds suddenly looked stacked against the visitors as Hemel had their tails up and the cause was made even more difficult when Ryan Gosney completely misjudged a through ball. The unfortunate keeper ended up missing it completely and kicked Cook-Appiah who had been chasing it down. The referee had no option but to send him off and with no keeper on the bench, Tom Leggett had to don the gloves but he was well protected by the nine men in front of him and they frustrated Hemel who were unable to test him in the remaining minutes, indeed Salisbury could have nicked it late on when a speculative 25 yard shot from Josh Hedges brought another good save out of Craig King.
Wilkinson said he was proud of his players after the game and pleased that they were able to get something from it, pointing out that it is still a new squad and it will take time to gell together but a point is a good result under the circumstances,
Hemel: Craig King, Teddy Howe (Connor Kurran-Browne) Dan Wishart, Kyle Ajayi, Ben Tomkins, Chris Smith, George Williams, Renny Smith (Jack Davies) Joe Iaciofano (Trae Cook-Appiah) Alfie Cerulli (Ricardo German) Brandon Barzey. Sub not used: Kyran Wiltshire.
Attendance: 699 Mitch's Man of the Match: Craig King
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