25/8/01: Ryman League Division Three

After emerging from their opening two league games without a point, Tring finally got off the mark by using their head. Tring found the net with five headers as they punished a Clapton side that is still looking for their first point of the season.

It took Tring only three minutes to put Tuesday night's poor display against Dorking behind them. Ben Chesters received the ball from Dave Butler on the right edge of the penalty area, and his cross to the far post decieved everybody as it went over the outstretched arm of 'keeper Carl Prince straight into the net.

Tring could have added to their lead quickly, with Antony Beamish heading just wide on 7 minutes and Butler just missing the target two minutes later after Prince had dropped the ball under challenge from Beamish. The task for the visitors was made even harder on 18 minutes when they were reduced to ten men. Asa Pamplin stupidly retaliated after being fouled by Wayne Barber leaving the referee with no alternative.

Tring continued to dominate and create chances but didn't score the second until 27 minutes. Chesters crossed to the far post, Prince came out to claim it but Mark Underwood got there first and headed past the stranded keeper into the net. Crosses were causing the Clapton defence all sorts of problems, with a header from Beamish on 33 minutes only being kept out by a goalline clearance from Davey Armstrong. Two minutes later Scott Walters provided another excellent cross and Chesters got on the end of it to head home convincingly for 3-0.

Tring were guilty of a few lapses of concentration at the back, and one of them allowed the visitors to pull a goal back on 43 minutes, Andy Griffiths diverting Alex Cargill's shot into the net from close range. However, Tring restored their three-goal cushion before the break, with Chesters providing another great cross to the far post for Wayne Barber to head the fourth goal.

The second half was similarly one-way traffic, and were it not for the exhausting heat eventually taking its toll, Tring could have run up a cricket score. The fifth goal arrived on 52 minutes when Dave Butler glanced in a header from a corner, and Brian Johnson was unlucky on 59 minutes when his header came back off the bar. More chances came and went before the final goal of the afternoon on 77 minutes. Stuart Gallagher delivered a free kick from distance and Beamish was unchallenged as he connected with a perfect header past the helpless Prince for goal number six.

Team: Bartley, Gibson (Hibbert), Harrhy, Bartlett, B.Johnson, Barber (Gallagher), Chesters, Underwood, Butler, Walters (Kinsley), Beamish.