It is safe to say the day did not get off to the best of starts. 3 players dropped out of the squad on the day for various reasons leaving the squad with just 12 players for the trip to Totternhoe.

Chris Davies made his debut for the club up front alongside Matthew Hatt. Dan Hill came into the side, not quite a full fitness but the management had to make a decision to throw Dan in at the deep end. Ryan Curtis also returned to the starting line up.

Totternhoe looked to have boasted from a full squad which made things even more difficult for the away side along with a boisterous home crowd behind the goal.

The away side started the game really brightly, putting the home side under pressure from the off and on the front foot. Chris Davies linked up well with Hatt in the final third and Gabriel Mititelu was causing the home side lots of problems from off the left.

On 13 minutes the away side were in front. Once again it was Mititelu who was giving the right side of Totternhoe issues. He came inside from the left and whipped an inviting right footed cross into the box. Matthew Hatt lost his opponent and volleyed into the roof of the net, checking for the flag from the assistant which correctly didn't come.

The first half was of very few clear cut chances from either side with most of the play being in the middle of the pitch. The away side were well worthy of their half-time lead. 0-1.

The second half began and the home side came out fighting but Tring were withstanding the pressure until 6 minutes into the 2nd half a ball came in from the right hand side, Callum Nevin sliced his clearance and the ball made it's way to the back post after some scrambles and the Totternhoe forward tucked it away for 1-1.

The game evened out once again and Tring started to find some space on the flanks which put Totternhoe on alert. Dan Hill took a nasty knock on the ankle that had kept him out of the early games and was forced off. The gamble didn't pay off. Sam Lomas entered the fray with skipper Corey Flynn moving into centre midfield before on 60 minutes Flynn had to exit the game. Tring were down to ten men with 30 minutes to go.

Going down to ten men galvanised the away side even with some tired legs out there. Tring grew as the game went on and looked dangerous down the flanks. Davies found Ryan Curtis who sprayed a ball out to Jake Plumridge who beat his man on the right hand side of the area before lashing an unstoppable shot past the home keeper to send the away side bench (Andy, Jamie and an injured Hill) into raptures. What a strike! 1-2.

Then came back the home side, throwing on numerous subs and fresh legs against a resilient Tring side. Unfortunately after some solid saves from Alex Sykes, eventually the home side equalised with minutes to go. A Totternhoe substitute found some space on the right hand side of the area after some backwards and forwards ricochets which fell nicely to him and he fired past the brilliant Sykes. 2-2

It was not to be and Tring still search for their first win but the team can be proud of their character and team work especially down to ten men for much of the second half and up against a strong, well organised Totternhoe side who will be challenging at the very top of the league.

Head Coach Jamie Roberts “We were good value for a our point today. We were organised, defended well and attacked dangerously at times. The most important thing for us was the character we showed out there. We had three drop-outs on the day which left us with 12 players. We had to put a 50% fit Dan Hill in at centre midfield who did really well until he took a bad knock on his bad ankle. We had arranged for one of our players to leave early (prior arrangement) but we had already made the substitution with the injury so that put us down to ten men for the final 25/30 minutes. A lot of things against us today but we didn’t complain, we got on with it and so nearly took all three points. Totternhoe were one of my dark horses for the league this season. Proper Spartan side. Tall, physical and well organised. So to come here with just one sub and to finish the game with ten men and to come away with a point shows we are going in the right direction as a team.”