Barton Rovers defeated Hertford Town 2-1 in an entertaining end-to-end tie to bounce back from their defeat to Stotfold at the weekend.
Jermaine Hall made 5 changes to the side that were defeated on Saturday afternoon. Paul Andrews came into the team and captained the side as Moloney and Warman joined him in defence. The final two changes saw Kirkpatrick and Adeyileka reinstated into the starting eleven!
After swapping ends, Rovers kicked off the game and wasted no time in creating their first chance of the game as Adeyileka received a ball down the right wing before moving it onto Kirkpatrick who played it to Rhiney who had a go for goal, his effort was saved by the Hertford keeper.
In the first ten minutes, both Rovers and Hertford had a handful of attacks but a period of pressure from the visitors looked threatening, Rovers were able to withstand it and started to get the ball rolling themselves as Cameron Hyde, Alfie Warman and Taylor Rhiney all had efforts at goal.
In the fifteenth minute, new Rovers keeper David Saunders was forced into action as he saved two shots from close range and blocked another with his feet on the goal line.
After twenty minutes played, Rovers were knocking on the door as Cameron Hyde almost opened the scoring when he fired his shot at Hertfords number one. The opener came three minutes later though when Taylor Rhiney flicked it over the head of the keeper and ran it into the open net! 1-0
Following the opener, Rovers went in search for a second as Adeyileka and Hyde caused trouble down the wings and whipped some excellent balls into the box, they were often met by Rhiney but the keeper kept him out on multiple occasions to prevent a second.
Following the interval, Rovers doubled their lead ten minutes after the restart through an own goal. Lucas Kirkpatrick put a spectacular ball into the box and it met the head of a Hertford player and ended in up in their net.
After getting the second, Rovers looked fairly comfortable in their abilities to see the game out and held possession for a handful of the second half. Hertford did have some promising chances but Barton managed to keep them out for most of the half. However, with three minutes of normal time to play, Hertford pulled a goal back to make it 2-1 as they scored from the penalty spot. After the visitors scored, they piled the pressure on to find an equaliser as the referee added five additional minutes on, but Rovers pulled through and defended their lead and eventually won the tie.
Full Time: Barton Rovers 2-1 Hertford
MOTM: Lucas Kirkpatrick
Next Match: Kidlington (A)
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