The idea that clubs use the county cup as a chance to rest players and maybe experiment with others in new positions has become common place. Rarely can such an approach have yielded so many goals.

Ware rested Jon Clements and Mackye Townsend-West from Saturday’s already changed team but within eleven minutes of kick off they made another change. Jay Rolfe, recently recovered from flu but apparently not recovered enough, found the pace was too much and had to give way to Stef Georgiou.

Perhaps significantly by that time Ware were already two-nil down. Jeremy Bisau’s cross cum shot curled beyond Fred Burbidge and found the net just inside the keeper’s right hand post in the third minute. Seven minutes later Tobias Braney commenced what would be a hat trick by converting the first of six penalties in a game that, even so, was played in a good spirit.

If there was a thread to this game, or at least the first half onslaught of goals, it lay in the speed of Cheshunt’s play. Too often the Ware defence was exposed and left in the wake of attackers who could only be stopped by last ditch tackles that didn’t always come off. No wonder referee Chris Poole was pointing to the penalty spot so frequently. His long arm of the football law will be aching for a while.

Three more penalties came in the first half, the first being sandwiched between two more goals for Braney as he made light of Ware’s defensive ability. The penalty had been despatched comfortably by Jack Thomas and the score mounted to 5-0 with ten minutes still to play of the half.

Ware struck back five minutes later as Theo Ofori was brought down in the Cheshunt area as he darted one way then another to get a shot on goal. He got up to convert the penalty but on the stroke of half time the home side were awarded their third spot kick.

Just as we were getting used to penalty goals Burbidge saved Jack Munns’ kick to give us a hint that the game was still a contest. Meanwhile Mr Poole decided that he had enough action for the time being and blew for the half time break.

Or was it a contest? Ten minutes in to the second half Cheshunt had their sixth goal, Jack Thomas playing a captain’s role by scoring his second goal and suggesting that the half was going to be as hard for the visitors as the previous 45 minutes. It looked even more so with twenty minutes left when it became 7-1 from yet another penalty this time converted by Vas Vasiliou. That’s the man shown as number 18 on the team list but with 15 on his shirt. No wonder the Ware defence was confused.

Within three minutes the game’s sixth penalty saw Ware reduce the deficit thanks to George Ironton’s confident strike. This was followed by Ofori’s second goal as he cut through the home defence to shoot past Preston Edwards before, two minutes later, Joe Dearman’s cross was converted from close range by Gabriel Chapps. At this sudden rate of scoring Ware might have made a draw of it and taken the game to a penalty shoot out but we were spared that by the final whistle. There had been more penalties in the ninety minutes than you sometimes see in a shoot-out.

Only one other of Ware’s senior cup matches has seen eleven goals and that was a war time semi-final against Barnet who scored them all when Ware were left struggling for players by the call up. On the brighter side there was a game that saw thirteen goals, Ware’s second round win over Hoddesdon on December 23rd 1899; 12-1 and only one penalty.

As for the six penalties in this game I think it safe to say that we haven’t previously seen that many in a Ware match of any kind, not just the senior cup.

Ware: Fred Burbidge, Chukuma Okotcha, Joe Dearman, Mitch Hahn (Tom Kay 45mins), Jay Rolfe (Stef Georgiou 11mins), Jack Grosvenor (David Sota 55mins), Theo Ofori, Gucci Soulya-Osekanongo (Gabriel Chapps 55mins), Sam Mayuma, Georg Ironton, Johnny Allotey. Unused sub: Jon Clements.