Old Finchlians 8th Sept 2018

Our season starts with a home game against Old Finchlians  with the expectancy of continuing our successful preseason run. A bit of a shaky start to the game probably due to “first game of the season nerves”. This all settled when James Bex “rose like a salmon” at the back post and headed in the first goal to get our season off the mark. From then on, there was no turning back against a competitive Old Finchleans side. The second came from Chris Morgan from the left side of the pitch into the top right corner, which he later admitted to being a cross (not many would have admitted that). This left us with a nice 2 goal advantage, which was helped by a great double save by our club captain Jack Robery in goal just before half time.
 
The second half started with a small set back when the opposition scored to make it 2-1, a goal that could have been avoided when we had three chances to win challenges and clear the ball. However the response was almost immediate replying with three goals in the second half. The first, from a clever reverse pass from James (Nose bleed) Bex which led to a chip over the oncoming keeper by Alfie Lloyd, who was immediately rewarded by being substituted to right back. The second was a well struck shot by Matt Roles which went into the top right corner.  The Third bumbled in by Tyrese Reynolds, although Gavin Suddell insists it was his goal. The jury is out for that one! The fourth & fifth goal went in whilst we only had 10 men, this is a tactic we may use in the future by taking Laurence (sin bin)Connolly off for 10 minutes.
 
A great start to the season where everybody played a part including the opposition. The stand out player for me was James Bex with his first goal calming the nerves, his second half assist and his overall play. Well done James and the rest of the team, a great start and let’s make sure we continue the commitment and passion for the rest of the season.