Bishop's Stortford3

Whyteleafe0

(Ryman League Division One)s=10THE Blues moved into second spot in Ryman Division One despite a far from impressive display against struggling Whyteleafe, at Woodside Park on Saturday.o

s=9Much of the pre-match interest surrounding this fixture centred on Martin Hayes' decision to omit Gary Kimble, Glen Southam and Danny Wolf from the starting eleven.o

While Wolf al least made the bench, player-of-the-year Southam and stand-in skipper Gary Kimble had to watch the game from the stands.

The visitors started off the brighter side and spectators would have noticed a somewhat disjointed Stortford struggling to get a hold of the game.

Ray Taylor was forced into a last ditch tackle on Leon Dillon after the Leafe striker had broken free and when Alex Riches was skinned on the right wing it was left to Micky Desborough to make a good save. Taylor then had to clear a Nigel Golley header off the line as the visitors continued to pressure.

It therefore came as something if a suprise when Stortford scored an opener which was very much against the run of play.

Just after the half hour a pass from Hayes released Trevor Paul, whose cross into the box fell to Troy Braham to strike his eighth goal of the season.

The Blues doubled their lead on the stroke of half time when a shot from Braham was parried by Danny Rose, only for Paul to scuff home the ball off a Leafe defender.

Leafe came out for the second half looking far from interested in clawing back the deficit, although the same could have been said of the Blues whose lead was eventually extended by Steve Double nine minutes from time.

The last action of the game saw Desborough expertly tip over a Danny Tanner lob to keep a clean sheet, but the sparse crowd were not kidded by the scoreline and were somewhat subdued at the end.

This far from impressive display followed last Tuesday's 3-2 victory against Wealdstone, which moved the Blues into the second round of the FA Trophy.

After recovering from a two-goal deficit against the Stones, Stortford have lined up a second round clash at home to Premier Division side Grays Athletic.

Blues' manager Martin Hayes, who has just added to his backroom staff with the appointment of Les Whitton as coach, will be hoping his side's good league form continues when they make the trip to mid-table Yeading on Saturday.

The team coach, which supporters are welcome to travel on, is scheduled to leave Woodside Park at noon.

f=Helvetica s=6 STORTFORD: Desborough, Risley, Riches, Purcell (Beale), Marie-Sainte, Taylor, Braham (Allison), Hayes, Gunn, Paul, Double. Unused sub: Wolf