Thursday 8th May 2014 ko 18.45

Aylesbury & District League Premier Division

BERKHAMSTED SPORTS 5 (Alexander 4 Whittaker 47 64 Shode 66 Gower 85)

AYLESBURY DYNAMOS 5 (Ashell 14 Woolard 17 31 45 Shennan 29)

Att 13

Entry FREE

No Programme

I wonder how many travellers have visited either Berkhamsted or Tring and travelled along the A4251 to get there. Chances are you’ll fly through the little hamlet of Cow Roast, glance across at the pub of the same name and carry along your way, thinking no more about the place. I’m oft heard to comment that every settlement has a story to tell, and little Cow Roast has more to say than most….

There’s been a settlement here from Iron Age times, the area was a centre for the production of Bog Iron, no doubt the later construction of the Roman Akeman Street aided its fortunes.  When the Grand Union Canal reached here in 1813, a Bronze Roman helmet was discovered, and the area is now protected as an ancient settlement of great historical interest. The settlement became a stop on a drovers route, and the name “Cow Roast” is probably a corruption of Cow Rest. The present day Cow Roast pub was built around 1800 on the site of the previous toll gate erected when the Sparrows Herne turnpike road was improved in the 1760s. The A41 passed through here until bypassed in 2004.

For all of that history, you genuinely wouldn’t expect to find a football ground here, much less find it. Fundamentally this is a ribbon development along the road, squeezed by the canal behind. There’s a road over that leading to a marina, but you have to search hard to find field-based sport. There’s a public footpath sign by the pub car park, and if you follow its frankly rutted track you reach… a hockey ground!

That’s right, the Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead Hockey Club is at the end of the lane and as I avoided a night in the ruts en route I spotted two deserted football pitches to my right. I prepared an expletive or two but spotted a further pitch to the left beyond some trees, and joy of joys, footballers!!

It’s easy to see why Berkhamsted Sports use this as a base, there’s a clubhouse and the pitch is positively manicured! With little or nothing for either side to play for save pride, I didn’t expect much of a game. Regular readers know how little I know about football so perhaps it was inevitable I got a 10-goal thriller! The hosts struck early though Alexander but the visitors quickly took control and ran in 5 unanswered goals before half-time, with Darrell Woolard registering a superb hat-trick.

Now one of the best habits I’ve got into writing this articles is allowing myself plenty of time to reflect on what I’ve seen, but even with the benefit of hindsight, I have no idea why Dynamos let a 4 goal lead slip. Will Whittaker’s brace followed by Matthew Shode’s strike brought Sports right back into the game.

Aylesbury fought back, but having lost all their momentum were powerless to stop their hosts. Nerves set in, and chances were missed but you wondered whether Aylesbury could hold out, but eventually there was captain Colin Gower to complete the comeback and send me home with a knowing smile on my lips. Sometimes all the chasing around the back roads of the world has real a pay-off, this was one of those evenings.