It wasn’t a great day for a game of football. Storm Boelo was raging and the high wind and driving rain was definitely be a factor.
Baldock were soon under pressure after the kick off. Tring seemed to be on route one with balls over the top of the centre of defence with the strong wind assisting and Baldock were struggling to cope with it. Tring had repeated attempts through on the Keeper but we were just managing to hold on.
In six minutes another such attempt had beaten the Keeper, but Gardiner was there to clear off the line to prevent what looked like a certain goal. A minute later Tring were more successful and scored.
1-0 to Tring.
A couple of minutes later Tring were back again, using the same tactics, but Fearon-McCaulsky, the Baldock Keeper was there with a great stop when one on one.
In 14 mins Akinbobola picked up a Tring cross in his own half and sent Blair away with a great pass. Blair was then off on one of his runs on the right hand side, beat a couple of men, and got a shot off on goal which was saved.
Blair was then trapped in the right corner but tenaciously worked his way out of that beating three men along the touch line and had a good shot stopped but the Keeper.
Back up the other end Gardiner was booked as Tring were back through the middle again.
In 21 mins Tring were coming through the middle, yet again, and Fearon-McCaulsky, anticipating the move, was out early and caught the Tring forward 20 yards out. There were a couple of Baldock defenders on the guy as well but the ball ended up in the net. The Ref blew for a foul and sent the Keeper off. Some of us were wondering if the Ref could have given a yellow and allowed the goal to stand (Tring weren’t denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity since the ball was in the net!).
So Jerrell Watkins was back in goal again - no doubt confident after his clean sheet against Wormley last week.
Baldock were down to ten men, playing against the storm and still 25 mins to go to half time. I don’t think anyone was very confident. Tring weren’t for letting up and Watkins managed a few good stops and interventions but Baldock started to close down the space through sheer effort.
Akinbobola managed a decent shot on goal, into the wind from about 25 yards, but it was well saved.
How many times have you seen a team, down to ten men, start to get it together and battle - this was going to be one of those.
Atcha came on to shore up the defence and definitely had an impact as Tring stopped coming through the middle on route one.
Close to the end of the first half Blair was played in, beat some players and got a shot off which wasn’t cleared due to pressure around the Keeper. Pallant was there to pick it up and fired it past the Keeper, a decent goal.
It ended 1-1 at half time - take that any day.
Just after the restart Baldock were literally caught cold and immediately lost a goal. Very disappointing but Watkins almost saved it as he deflected a powerful shot from close range, onto the underside of the bar but it spun back into the net.
2-1 to Tring.
The second half was almost all Baldock, from my point of view, with Tring limited to the occasional foray into the Baldock half where Atcha was always there to intervene.
There is no point in defining the detail in this half as it was a great team effort but Baldock had their chances, quite a few really. The closest was in the last couple of minutes when Nkrumah almost connected with a cross to equalise.

A Tring supported commented “that must be the most nerve racking game I have seen in a while” - that sums up just how well Baldock were doing and how the game was finishing.

Team: Fearon-McCaulsky, Kusi, Kassaye, Powell, Gardiner, Adofo, Blair, Trott, Akinbobola, Pallant, H.Arthur, Subs; Nkrumah, G.Arthur, Robertson, Atcha, Watkins.

All commentary and remarks are the views and opinions of J.Graham, a Baldock supporter forever, and do not necessarily represent the views of BTFC Committee or Management. This match report is as I saw it and may be slightly biased as well.