Football
THE Hemel Town revival continues to gather speed as Tommy Widdrington’s Tudors recorded a draw and a win in the space of three days.
First up, Town drew 2-2 at home to Bashley in the league on Saturday, before progressing to the third round of the Red Insure Cup with a 2-1 victory at Hitchin on Monday night.
Speaking prior to the Hitchin clash, Tudors boss Widdrington said: “There’s definitely a few signs that the players are picking up the basic requirements that we want. I’m very pleased with the way the new players have settled in.
“There have been real improvements but we still have a long way to go.”
Saturday’s draw with Bashley was an entertaining encounter – and a match which the Tudors will feel they could have won.
A brace from loan signing Matt Wright gave Hemel the lead, but with 10 minutes left on the clock, James Stokes bagged his second goal of the game to salvage a point for Bashley.
Hemel had chances to wrap the game up at 2-1, but could not force a decisive third goal and were made to pay late on.
There were plenty of encouraging signs for the Tudors, though – not least the performance of Wright – and the win takes them up to third from bottom in the table.
“Matt (Wright) is an old-fashioned centre-forward and the type of player we didn’t have at the club,” said Widdrington. “He’s what I want from a number nine and there’s signs he can be a real threat”
And Wright was in the thick of the action again at Hitchin, as he cancelled out an opener from the hosts, before Matt McEntergart headed home the winner for the Tudors.
Hemel again looked confident as they responded well to going behind, before going on to dominate the game and sealing their progression into the next round.
Hitchin went in front after four minutes through a Zak Burke strike, and the hosts could have doubled their lead as Louis Lee, Callum Donnelly, Luke Gregson and John Frendo all went close.
Hemel began to assert themselves on the game as the half went on, though, and Wright knocked home the equaliser from a cross.
Hemel picked up where they left off after the break, and, despite Mike McEntergart being forced into a decent stop, they netted the winner in the 72nd minute.
Matt McEntergart headed in from a corner, and the Tudors held on comfortably for the win.
And Widdrington is confident his side can carry on their impressive run and continue to climb up the league table.
“The form which we’ve produced is nowhere near the bottom of the table form,” he said. “We don’t need to look at the table, we just need to let the points take care of themselves.”