Hertford Town 3-1 Milton Keynes Irish

Milton Keynes Irish couldn’t capitalise on their first half chances as they fell to a disappointing 3-1 loss at the hands of Hertford Town. 

Fresh off their first home league win against Barton Rovers, MK Irish dominated the early proceedings and could have taken the lead after five minutes when George Shrieves headed Owen Brooks through on goal but the attacker had his shot saved well by the feet of James Callan.

Hertford Town were also impressive when they were on the front foot and it took a strong catch from Tom Ladyman to deny Billy Mardell-Smith from opening the lead with a powerful volley from the edge of the box. 

Ladyman did well to get down low to keep the scores level and he was rewarded for his efforts when Shrieves tore down the wing, dribbling past three defenders before playing a precise square ball to Owen Brooks, who simply couldn’t miss to score his second goal in as many games. 

Marcus Painter proved to cause continuous problems on his wing for the Irish backline and he would have equalised for his side if it wasn’t for Ladyman making himself big to deny the winger.

Shrieves had the perfect opportunity to grab his side’s second of the game when he snuck in behind the Hertford defenders to latch onto a long ball over the top but Callan produced a carbon copy of his previous one-on-one save against Brooks to keep his side in the match. 

Mason Spence, Brooks and Shrieves combined well in the final third and when Shrieves received a cutback from Brooks, it looked destined to find the bottom corner but Callan dived down quickly to push it away. 

Ryan Smith found himself on the scoresheet against Barton Rovers last week and the midfielder had a great chance to grab another but his shot from the edge of the box flew agonisingly over. 

Milton Keynes Irish would go on to rue their missed chances when Jesus Mendoza found Noah Mosanya with his cutback and the attacker was allowed acres of space inside the 18 yard box before swivelling a shot into the top corner to get his side back on level terms. 

The drama wasn’t over there in the first half as the referee had previously awarded Kyle Boyce a dubious yellow card in midfield after a 50-50 challenge and he was left with no choice but to send the defender off when he kicked out at Albert McGregor, leaving the away side with ten men for the entire second half. 

This completely changed the gameplan for MK Irish in the second half, who instantly had ten men behind the ball to try and protect their point and Ladyman did well to deny Mendoza and Mosanya with his feet from two separate close range chances. 

Hertford Town were throwing everything at MK Irish to try and take the lead for the first time and Mendoza was the latest player to have a chance from range to fly narrowly over the crossbar. 

Milton Keynes Irish were defending resolutely but a volley from close range had beaten Ladyman and it was only a brilliant clearance off the line from Rev Kalek that kept MK Irish on level peggings. 

Hertford Town began to slow the game down and attempted to pass the ball around MK Irish and their patience finally paid off when Ladyman pushed away Painter’s teasing cross but it only fell as far as Mosanya who headed home after 75 minutes. 

Mardell-Smith fired over from range later on in the match but it was another troubling cross from Painter that was eventually bundled in for the home side’s third goal, which completely put the game to bed. 

A true game of two halves for Milton Keynes Irish saw them fall to a 3-1 loss away from home to Hertford Town in a result that pushes them back into the relegation zone.