After their FA Cup defeat on Saturday the Green played their first league game away at Colney Heath - probably one of the toughest away games, with the opposition fielding a strong team in all respects.

On a lovely summer evening the pitch was immaculate and we all hoped we would see some good football.

The first half was largely not very entertaining, but some flashes of good play from both sides kept the crowd on their feet. Colney Heath came close to a goal when the ball was hit hard across the six yard box and any touch would have been a goal, followed by a couple of decent saves from the Green keeper Aiden Kelly to keep the score at half time 0-0.

The second half was different with the Green kicking down the slope. They started getting their passing together and in the 51st minute a fine move down the right hand side involving 4 or 5 players was finished by Adam Hallissey from the edge of the box with a unstoppable shot.

Two minutes later it should have been two goals to the Green. As the ball flashed across the Colney six yard box, Tobi Akin just had to touch it but the ball hit a bump and the chance was missed.

But we did not have to wait for to long for the next goal. After a foul on Ben Butler forty yards out, he chipped the Colney wall where Ben Gill caught the ball on the volley and slammed it over the keeper into the net in the 56th minute.

This led to a very unsavoury incicdent where Tobi Akin went to retrieve the ball from the net, but a number of Colney players took offence to this, and a melee happened. The end result was that Akin got a very unlucky red card - the referee and his assistants probably got it right, but they missed all the incidents leading up to the problem.

Now we were on the back foot, down to ten men. Colney took the gamel to Green, hitting the bar from a shot which was deflected and then getting a goal when Mark Shadbolt was wrong-footed and the ball deflected into the net.

A couple of substitutions were made with Jon Davies replacing Alfee Robbins and Ioan Vranceanu replacing Adam Hallissey. There was more pressure from Colney, but time was running out, and after we had broken down a Colney attack Jon Davies ran down the right wing where he was badly fouled. This led to a yellow card and when the game resumed in the 88th minute a typical Jon Davies free kick deflected off a Colney defender and went into the net.

There was a few tricky moments after this, but the clock ran down and the ref blew his whistle for full time, and the Green were rewarded with their first win at the Recreation Ground since 2006. A great team effort and we played some lovely football, but also showed great strength and team spirit up against a strong and resilient opposition.

Next up for the Green is a home game against Hatfield Town on Saturday.

(Report by Graham Smart)