It wasn’t a great night for football and the Baldock team that took the field looked very different with some regulars missing.
Baldock were first into action in 3 mins when a good shot from Sinclair went narrowly past after Logan had won a corner. In 11 minutes Broadfield scored after a low cross was not dealt with and they managed to get it into the net from a tight angle. 1-0 down.  Baldock came close in 15 mins when Joy set up Gaffney for a shot from the right that went just over. Baldock were awarded what looked like a soft penalty after Morris was pushed in the back on the edge of the six yard box. Our guy went down like an old chimney but the Ref was right to give it. A penalty in Baldock’s favour can never be wrong in my view. Rome took the penalty and scored in the bottom left corner. In 40 mins Broadfields had a chance and forced a good stop, at feet from Skinner. In 43 mins Piggott shot narrowly past after an extended build up in the Broadfields half. 1-1 at half time.
The weather hadn’t improved much and my social distancing was working well in the stand as the attendance was very low.
In 48 mins Joy, on the left, passed to Gaffney who cut inside and let fly a shot which came off the top of the Broadfields bar. Broadfields were back in the lead in 54 mins when a low cross got caught up in a tangle of players and they scored from 2 yards. It was noticeable in the first half that Broadfields seemed to be concentrating on low corners and cross balls as they weren’t going to win much in the air - the Baldock defenders not being vertically challenged.
Three minutes later Baldock were pressing again and a good low cross from Rome was narrowly missed by Piggott who just failed to connect with it. In 65 minutes Broadfields got themselves into a bit of a mess when they seemed to stop but Hay didn’t, he won the ball on the 18 yard box gave it to Joy who shot low into the bottom left hand corner of the net and equalised. It looked like Piggott had confused them by wandering back from an offside position and seemed to expect the Ref to blow for offside.
In 69 mins Baldock rode their luck a bit when a clearance from Skinner went straight to the Broadfields striker who then shot narrowly past. In 76 mins Baldock were pressing for the win and Gaffney passed to Morris who was looking for the cross but the Keeper got lucky break and the ball came off him with Piggott waiting in the middle of the box. Baldock got the winner in 86 minutes when Trott beat two defenders with some intricate footwork and passed to Piggott, now playing on the right, who got past his man and cut back for Brooker to score from close in. Baldock 3-2 up and that’s how it finished.
This was a decent result for Baldock on a terrible night and a very changed team with some very young players who all put in good performances; Skinner (16), Hay (17), Trott (17).
Team; Skinner (GK), Sinclair, Morris, Rome (c), Burton, Rowland, Joy, Gaffney, Piggott, Logan, Hay, Brooker, Harper, Trott, Doolan