HTFC Crusaders 0 - Hemel Hempstead 2

With two solid defences and with both goalkeepers in fine form, there were never going to be many goals in this game, so that when the Tudors scored twice just after the hour mark, the game swung in their favour and, although we battled on until the final whistle and forced a couple of good saves from Laurie Walker, they held on to secure the points.

There was a disappointingly small crowd on a pleasant sunny autumn afternoon, but we started well, even though we had a set-back when skipper Matt Day was injured during the warm-up and took no part in the game. We soon tested Walker through Luke Williams and Stefane Ngamoulou, but both defences stood firm with Lewis Ward again in good form in the Hungerford goal. Louie Soares got away, but his cross flew over the bar, while Stefan Brown just failed to reach another teasing cross. We earned a couple of corners but failed to profit from them, but the visitors looked dangerous from counter-attacks, although we dealt with them fairly comfortably.

Playing down the slope after the interval, we soon had the Hemel defence under pressure with Luke Williams looking dangerous, but Walker still looked impressive between the posts .However, these attacks came to nothing and instead it was Jordan Parkes who reacted first after we hadn't cleared the ball and beat Lewis Ward with a spectacular overhead kick on the hour mark. This goal gave the visitors a boost and they made it 2-0 only 5 minutes later when Charlie Sheringham headed in from a free-kick, and despite two great saves from Walker, we were never able to reduce the arrears and suffered our first league defeat of the season.

Team; Lewis Ward, Rhys Tyler, Paul Stonehouse, Matt Partridge, Jon Boardman, Luke Williams, Callum Willmoth (Jamal Lawrence), Ian Herring, Stefan Brown (Tom Meechan), Stefane Ngamvoulou, Louie Soares (Warren Bentley) - Unused subs;Scott Rees, James Clark