Knebworth FC

U13 Tigers show great resilience

The long awaited game between Knebworth U13 Tigers and Hatfield Comets was played out on Sunday at Knebworth Rec under blue skies, and on a fast pitch.

It was self billed as the game of the season for these two teams, and it lived up to the hype. Both teams gave their all, and Hatfield came in at the break with a commanding lead, and looked to have the game sown up. The Tigers however were not finished, and showed great perseverance and tenacity to take the game to the visitors and claim the spoils for the second half. Whilst the Tigers didn’t manage to score quite enough goals to win the game, the effort was more than enough to make their coaches and spectators very proud. A goal by JH direct from a corner was a piece of great skill, MN made several last defender runs to stop shots, and GJ worked tirelessly on the wing both in attack and defence. Well done lads!

Player of the match was JR for some great saves and bravery in coming off his line and diving at the feet of the onrushing opposition.

Thank you to our new sponsors Fenton Engineering whose shirts were worn at Knebworth Rec for the first time this season.

U8s back in league action

Saturday morning saw all three U8s teams back to League fixtures with energetic and dedicated performances from all the players.

The Lions were first up at home with a feisty game against a talented Wodson Park U8s. The players showed real commitment and desire and there were some slick passing moves on display – well done! Player of the Match was EC.

The Tigers followed and showed fantastic spirit, they were clearly happy to be back on the pitch. All of the players were incredibly positive and loved being back at the Rec. They played a hard fought game and showed great determination and positivity.

The Leopards played away at Wheathampsted against the U8 Panthers and thoroughly enjoyed their game. Player of the Match was awarded to Dominic for his excellent all-round goalkeeping. Special mentions to Harry for his goals and Ryan, as captain, led by example. Bradley and Alex made good interceptions in defence and Max and Leon showed good energy and determination in midfield.

Well done to all the U8s for a fantastic return to football!

U10s Oranges

The U10 Oranges were back in League action at the Rec against Wheathampsted Wanderers Tiger Sharks. The Oranges started well with some good early attacks, some shots hit the woodwork but the Tiger Sharks were clincal. By Quarter 3, the Oranges showed great energy and pressure on their opponents and they battled hard to win the ball. Jacob made some terrific strikes on target, as did Seb in Quarter 4.

The Oranges never gave up and kept on going but just couldn’t beat a strong Tiger Sharks team with some very strong players. All-in-all it was a great end-to-end game with Thomas player of the week and Tyler back from injury. The important thing was that the 8 players were back playing League games together again.

First team – Saturday 3 April 2021

April 5, 2021April 5, 2021 knebfc

The Ks resume with a win over Hertford Heath

Adrian Turner reports…

Well what a great game. On a bobbly and dry Knebworth pitch we welcomed Hertford Heath in the end of season cup competition. Both teams started brightly and were both playing on the front foot. Dan Smith was at his finest to keep out an early opportunity for the visitors and at the other end Luke Burkett went agonisingly close with a header. Hertford Heath’s direct approach was well managed as Knebworth kept their shape, as both team’s gave everything in this first fixture since December. Full back Ollie Mitchell was the stand out player of the half on his First team debut.

The second half started in the same manner with the visitors getting the ball forward quick but, again the Ks held their shape and a a good line and played some lovely football. Knebworth got their reward when a good move resulted in the ball being whipped into the Hertford Heath penalty box and forcing an unavoidable own goal; a well-deserved lead for the home side. Knebworth controlled the game for the next 15 minutes until a ball into the box caused some confusion and Peter Reilly took full advantage to poke home the equaliser. A shaky ten minutes followed for the hosts, but they gradually got back in control of the game and edged ahead again with the finest move of the game. A ball out by Smith to skipper Agnew who produced a delicious pass down the line which caught Hertford Heath out and a great finish by Seb Melendez. There were a few scary moments in the last 10 minutes as former Ks striker Charlie Pratt hit the crossbar and a couple of soft penalty shouts but Knebworth held on for a deserved win.

Raja Tandoori man of the match: Ollie Mitchell

A great team win and a perfect performance for our first game back. Well done lads!

Saturday’s match programme can be downloaded here

Adult teams, Reserve team

Reserves – Saturday 3 April 2021

April 5, 2021 knebfc

Matt Cooper reports…

After a lockdown induced absence from Football, Knebworth travelled to Sarratt in the first of three group stage games of the newly created end of season cup competition.

Lockdown beer bellies and awful haircuts were the order of the day but it was great to get the boys back together and get a game of football back on.

The Reserves had a strong XI out with Stapleton in goal, a back four of Rowe, Cooper, McKechnie and Fleet, midfield of Dunn, Rose and Kitzio, with Phillips and Hatfield supporting Richardson up front.

The game started slowly with both teams exploring each other on a firm and bobbly pitch. It was Knebworth who took advantage first though with Richardson getting on the end of a wonderful through ball and slotting it calmly past the goalkeeper to give the Reserves a deserved 1-0 lead. It wasn’t long before the lead was doubled in comical fashion, Richardson putting the Sarratt keeper under severe pressure and the keeper’s attempted clearance hit Richardson and ricocheted back into the net.

The rest of the half was rather quiet in terms of chances with the Knebworth back four doing well to repel the numerous long balls over the top coming from Sarratt defence and midfield. The score was 2-0 at half time.

The second half was a slightly different story with Sarratt having much more of the possession and Knebworth having to dig deep and try and catch them on the counter. Chances were missed by early substitutes Hale and Hutchinson to grab that killer third before Sarratt got back into the game on the hour mark with a scrappy goal from inside the box.

Sarratt threw the kitchen sink for the remaining half hour with the back four and Rose and Dunn in midfield doing an excellent job of dealing with the multitude of crosses, long balls and set pieces that were thrown into the box. The hosts did eventually get their reward for their pressure in fortuitous circumstances as a hopeful looped ball back into the box landed at the feet of an attacker who poked past the excellent Stapleton who had made a number of key saves all afternoon.

Both teams saw the rest of the game out and a 2-2 result saw the points shared by both teams. Great to be back and next week the reserves host Hinton at home.

Extrastaff man of the match: Alex Richardson

Youth teams

Youth report – Saturday 12 December 2020

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U8s Lions keep their Pride

The Lions enjoyed a well balanced match against tough opposition, in pretty challenging conditions.

The boys showed good discipline and grit to keep the match close, with excellent passing play throughout. JL made some excellent darting runs down the wings, and TM kept close marking throughout. EH scored a well finished first-touch goal, pouncing on a tight cross from HC. The boys were really pleased with their team performance, and listened well to coaches’ instruction. After spending time trailing the team kept their spirits up and continued to play positively.

ATEC Mechanical and Electrical Services player of the match: ZP for his spirited defensive play

Adult teams, First team, Reserve team, Youth teams

Seniors – Family Ties

December 11, 2020December 11, 2020 knebfc

Stuart Biddle writes…

Since reforming in 1999, we’ve had over twenty sets of brothers playing for the Seniors and even a few father/son combos.

Callum McKechnie, who features on the list with his brother Marcus, prompted my interest in which brothers have made the most appearances for the Seniors since 1999…

So we start with the talented Dance family… slightly out of sequence as I’ve now added others!

Dance (15/2) Bobby (11/2) and Joe (4)

Father Danny (something of a local football legend) also played for the Club at some time in the late Seventies and/or early Eighties, and, having read the committee minutes from the time, helped build the stand and dug outs at the Old Knebworth Lane ground where Odyssey Health Club is – those structures remain to this day! Brother Riki also made a couple of friendly appearances but we don’t count those.

Kersey (2/1) Ashley (1/1) and Paul (1)

Hickin (12/2) Konnor (11/2) and Josh (1)

Yates (17/1) Andrew (14) and Rob (3/1)

Klimek (17/7) Andrew ‘Butch’ (16/7) and Mark (1)

Adamson (23/2) Jake (22/2) and Alfie (1)

Gutzmore (29/10) Kadeem (20/9) and Leon (9/1)

Ellis/Klimek (34/16) Ryan Ellis (18/4) and Kieran Klimek (16/12)

Small (35/4) Dorian (21) and Ricardo (14/4)

Webb (43/9) Dan (25/1) and Tony (18/8)

Forde (43/15) Jono (41/15) and Darren (2)

Stephenson (46/24) Sam (28/20) and Dan (18/4)

Lucy (50/5) Alex (39/5) and Joe (11)

Tear (51/4) James (31/2) and Matt (20/2)

Paine (61/10) Casey (52/9), Jake (7/1), Josh (2)

Wheeler (65/14) Charlie (54/10) and Jed (11/4)

Gilbert (72/58) Louis (50/48) and Jack (22/10)

Kenna/Thomas (77/29) Liam Kenna (75/29) and Dean Thomas (2)

Travi-Wombwell (80/7) Billy (52/3) and Adam (28/4) – not actually brothers but they seemed to be!

Errington (91/2) Craig (82/1) and Liam 9/1) – nor are these two!

Miles (97/13) Jordan (56/11) and Aaron (41/2)

Fuller (104/28) Graham (80/19) and Rob (24/9)

Douglas (111/12) Tom (67/9) and Ricky (44/3)

Lamacraft (125/41) Adam (69/35), Sean (33/1), Glen (23/5) – more on this family below…

Evans (125/51) Seb (94/31) and Louie (31/20)

Dove (126/25) Graham (80/12) and Richard (46/13)

Downham (143/48) Danny (117/45) and Ben (26/3)

Bennett (163/59) Luke (144/57) and Tom (19/2)

Clark (164/42) Wayne (85/4) and Jamie (79/38) – another unrelated pair included for a laugh

Bysouth (178/26) Alex (146/24) and Sam (32/2)

Bickell (179/27) Darren (165/27) and Dean (14)

Taylor (192/15) Max (97/5) and George (95/10)

Pratt (204/69) Charlie (164/69), Jake (11), James (Brooke) (29)

Oram (208/26) Will (144/9) and Tom (64/17)

Thompson (269/16) Danny (144/11) and Matt (125/5)

And now to the top three…

McKechnie (287/35) Marcus (164/26) and Callum (123/9)

The Knebworth born and raised McKechnie brothers edge out founding members the Thompsons.

Matthews (313/59) Stewart (212) and Martin (101/59)

Second on the list are goalkeeper and striker pair the Matthews brothers, another set of homegrown players.

Mattia (347/67) Angelo (239/64) and Rafael (108/3)

And topping the list are the Mattias including Angelo who held the appearance and goalscoring records from early on until surpassed by Lewis Coward (281/21), Danny Griffiths (253/26) and Sam Harte (242/33) for appearances, and Frazer Triggs (208/129), Paul McCormack (126/83), Jason Drackford (115/82), Jamie Drackford (124/74) and Charlie Pratt (164/69) for goals.

We’ve also had nine father/son combinations that I’m aware of, excluding those that only coached/played; most notably Martin Bond and his son Jon (221/6) who reformed the Seniors in 1999 having finished Youth football.

Winn (3) Gary (2) and Callum (1)

Gary played for the original Club before it folded so he actually made far more appearances.

Klimek (17/12) Kieran (16/12) and Mark (1)

Like others on this list, Mark played for the Ks in his pomp and even managed the side for a time. He was a popular and talented local sportsman who sadly passed away.

Paine (73/10) Casey (52/9), Jake (7/1), Josh (2), and Martin (12)

Martin joined as player/coach in early 2010s having played a good standard of non-league football, and is another popular local football figure.

Bass (89/9) Dave (70/4) and Jack (19/5)

Dave had three seasons with us and quickly emerged as a leader of the team and captaining the First Team. Jack played one season, his first in adult football.

Bowgett (92/20) Tom (90/20) and Paul (2)

Father Paul made two appearances for the Ks, having previously captained Wealdstone to the first-ever non-league double of FA Trophy and Conference title in 1985.

Mulcahy (97/16) Ian (68/16) and Sam (29)

Ian joined to play for the Reserves under childhood friend Tony Lamacraft, and went on to become Reserves manager. The mercurial Mulcahy was a popular member of the Club.

Lawrence (99/4) Lee (96/4) and Joe (3)

Lee was the first Club captain when the Seniors were reformed in 1999 and guided the young team through its first few seasons.

Lowe (120/30) Kevin (109/30) and Oliver (11)

Kevin Lowe played for Knebworth throughout the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties (as far as I know) and is well known local football circles, famous for his drop of the shoulder. In the twilight of his footballing days, Kevin played for the reformed Seniors in the early 2000s; often going on mazy runs which ended with him finding the net.

Lamacraft (156/45) Adam (69/35), Sean (33/1), Glen (23/5), and Tony (31/4)

Father Tony, who sadly passed away in 2014, played for the Club soon after it reformed and later became Reserves and then First Team manager. He also coached our youth teams for many years and was chairman of the youth football club as it then was for three years.

Pratt (205/69) Charlie (164/69), Jake (11), James (Brooke) (29), Jeff (1)

Jeff made one appearance which is just enough to get the Pratt family on to the this list! Charlie’s 164 appearances give the family a comfortable lead which is likely to stand for many years to come.

So that’s the list – for now!