Team: Williamson, Riley, Knott, Macdonald, Wrigley, White, Sage, James, Boyadjiev, Ffinch, Francey. Subs: Dehombreux, Dean, Mazurkiewicz, Donnelly.

The first match of the season sees us back at the place where Patrick Roosen died exactly one year ago and although it was not as hot as last year, it was still a very hot day. A minutes silence was observed and we all had Patrick and his family in our thoughts which was just the incentive we needed to go out and put on a good show.

We start the match very sluggishly, and the opposition are very much in control and seem to be attacking our goal at leisure, and after we failed to clear the ball, they attacked down the right and put in a cross, which unfortunately seen Alex put through his own net. 1-0 to them after +- 5 minutes, and it looked like we were going to be in for a bumpy afternoon.

We were further hampered when Paul Wrigley had to go off injured after +-15 minutes, and was replaced by Freddie, and Freddie is soon into the game with a couple of crunching tackles. They keep up the pressure and manage to get into good shooting positions regularly and its only good goalkeeping by Tony that keeps the scoreline status quo especially one save which was exceptional.

We begin to play a bit better and manage to get into their area a few times, and won a few corners, but we never really threatened their goalkeeper. Most of our balls forward are in the direction of Big Ken, and he very ably wins most of these in the air, but we fail to get anyone to make the runs on to them.

We are having problems even keeping possession at our own throw ins, and this should be talked about and practiced. Part of the problem is we are too slow in getting the ball back into play. Our new man Larry is settling down in midfield and Chris Ffinch and Tony White are getting more involved down the right, and George is also managing to get some good runs past their chunky full back. Half-Time 1-0

Chris Riley our captain decides to make a couple of people changes at half-time and also changes the format of the team around a bit. He brings on Phil Dean for Alex, and Jim Donnelly for Larry. We start off well, and manage to get some positive plays in and around their 18 yard box and even get in a few shots, but these are either off target, or straight at the keeper.

Again big Kenny is busy in the air, and as usual is winning most of the aerial battles, but nobody is anticipating the knock-ons, so these just fizzle out. Chris Ffinch is getting a lot of the play, and manages to get past his defender a few times and gets some balls across the goal, and even manages a couple of shots, which unfortunately are off-target.

The midfield of Jim, Freddie and Tony are managing to hold their own against some quick, tricky players, with the back 4 of Chris, Darren, Scott and George dominating. Tony in goal seemed to be having a quieter time of it compared to the first half, and was probably more involved in pass backs from us, than threats from them.

Our best chance came with about 10 minutes left, when Chris Ffinch again managed to get past their defender and put in an excellent cross that fell to Ken, however the ball seemed to be at that height where it was difficult to decide whether to head to or kick it. Ken decided to kick it, and although he did not seem to get a clean connection, it agonizingly hit the inside of the post and the danger was cleared. Although they were a very effective side, overall, I believe we may have just deserved a draw. Final score 1-0

MOM DARREN JAMES (5 votes)