Somerville Smashed
Hertford came into this game confident of a victory against a Somerville team yet to win a game this season. Their optimism appeared justified when they scored a goal almost immediately from the kick-off. The ball was swept wide to Robinson who crossed from the left for Cook to prod the ball home.
Shaken by that quickest of goals, Somerville pulled a midfielder back into a holding role in front of the defence, trying to counter Hertford's notched sword formation.
This cavalier lineup soon put Somerville to the test and rendered their tactical switch useless. Cook scored after Hamill beat his marker and crossed for the winger to coolly slot home. Shortly afterwards, Alex Robinson expertly drilled the ball into the corner of the net from outside the box.
Somerville were clearly shaken and Hallibob and Harris efforts to stand firm at the heart of the Somerville defence leaked further goals.
Hamill was involved in three goals just before the break, setting up Cook for his hat-trick before turing in a Robinson cross. Not soon afterwards he scored again when he found the net from the right-hand corner of the box after some clever link-up play between Smelt and Evans.
The second half lacked any real incidents and was punctuated only by a further three goals from Hertford. Hamill scored his third with the easiest of tap-ins after the much-maligned Changinman miskicked in his own six-yard box.
Hertford's final two goals came courtesy of a thundering drive from McAteer and a powerful long range shot from the undoubted man of the match, Johnny Cook.
The scoreline reflected Hertford's superiority and underlined Somerville's inevitable slide to lower division obscurity.
7th Feb 2002