Hatfield Town 0
Stevenage Athletic 3
League (Metropolitan League)

Match report written by Stevenage Pictorial, 10th October 1969.

For the first time for nearly 12 months, Stevenage are back at the top of the Metropolitan League. They got there on Saturday by beating bottom club Hatfield 3-0 away from home.

After scoring two goals in the first ten minutes and another just before half-time, Stevenage relaxed - but could well have repeated the five goals they scored on the same ground last season.

Only former Stevenage winger Geoff Heard offered any kind of danger to the high-flying Stripes, but even he could not find a way through a defence which has grown from strength to strength since he left the club at the end of last season.

Chris Long had a fine game on the left-wing and had a hand in all three goals.

The first came in the 8th minute, seconds after Long had scraped the bar a with a trying header. The outside-left dashed down the wing and crossed for Jack PARKS to hit home.

Within two minutes they were two up, Long this time centreing for Mickey WILLIAMS - in his last game before his seven-day suspension - to score.

Long, Brian Parkinson and John Mills all went close before PARKS scored Stevenage's third on the stroke of half-time. Again it was Long who hustled the goalkeeper into a mistake and the ball ran to the unmarked centre forward who only had to tap it into the net.

Although Stevenage allowed Hatfield to have more possession in the second half, there was never any real danger of them conceding a goal and, in fact, it was Parkinson who almost found the net with a powerful drive which goalkeeper King did well to hold.