Jets Fail to Recapture Aylesbury Form

Jets 2 Berkhamsted 4

Spartan South Midlands Challenge Trophy
8th September 2009

Well never two games the same with Jets at the moment. Jets are proving to be consistently inconsistent. After a good start to the game that had the crowd thinking Jets had turned the corner, they sunk back to the indifferent ways of risky slow keep ball until the price was finally paid.

Jets came straight out the blocks and Paul Turner set the tone and made an immediate impact forcing a corner in the first minute. Jets had all the early pressure and Ian Bywater opened the scoring after just five minutes, and minutes later should have doubled his and Jets tally with a clear header.  

Jets pushed hard for the first twenty minutes and Spencer Bellotti and Lee Grace came close on a couple of occasions.  Bellotti, Turner and Gladdy all had half chances zipping around the box.

But then the tide started to turn and Berkhamsted’s highly rated James Armstrong was threatening Jets at every opportunity. Jets were finally undone in a goal reminiscing of Saturday, this time Joe Marsh came charging from his goal wide out in the penalty box and went down for the ball, and although it looked clear that he got the ball before the player, a late flag earned James Armstrong the chance which he took from the spot, and a very harsh yellow and penalty against Marsh.

All but the last five minutes of the first half belonged to Berkhamsted as they now had Jets on the back foot. Jets did threaten with a lob from Paul Turner which went just over the bar minutes from the break, and the lively Spencer Bellotti thundered a shot against the post.

The second half saw Jets get a raw deal again in all ways from the decisions, first a free kick given Jets way was changed, and a quick free kick put James Armstrong through for number two, and minutes later the incensed Jets defence was caught again with awful marking as Boad scored a bullet header for 3-1.

Jets did fight back, but were rocked when Paul Turner fell on his knee badly and was withdrawn and needed to go to hospital and the injured Dave Maynard was also replaced as Jets rocked.

Spencer Bellotti combined well with Wayne Gladdy who slotted home a goal with ten minutes to play, and Bellotti looked to have completed the comeback when he got onto the end of the returning Jamie Arthur’s cross to spectacularly slide yards to hammer high into the net, only again to see the dreaded flag somehow rule out his finish for offside.

It was the final nail for Jets comeback as moments later the static defence was embarrassed when Davis ran at three Jets defenders, saw them off and slotted past Marsh to complete the win. 4-2 to Berkhamsted, and overall a performance not good enough from Jets in a game they would have been expected to win.