Friendly Season
So we are deep into preseason now. Friendlies coming thick and fast. The new season is a little over a week away, a home tie in the FA Cup versus Fisher FC. Five preseason matches under the first team’s belt, with two remaining friendly games to go.
The sides preseason journey started behind closed doors at Chessington & Hook, on a back pitch behind their stadium in the middle of Surrey. For grassroots football, this era of the new normal seemed to entail a lot of alfresco team talks, a real lack of privacy when donning the famous black and white and buckets full of hand sanitiser.
Chessington & Hook ply their trade two divisions below. Two of our own, Pedro Moco and Julien Saka, are currently dual registered with the side. Two exciting prospects from our under 23s development squad out looking for experience playing men’s football. The game passed with little incident. Apart from a few wild ‘tackles’ that would make the most ardent lover of a non-league challenge blush. The Terrors were head and shoulders above their opposition, netting six with five different goal scorers. All in all a good first run out, to blow the cobwebs off and slowly get back up to speed.
Next on the agenda for the Terrors was a ‘trip’ to play Tooting Bec FC. Off to the back 3G the side traipsed for a midweek friendly with our continued tenants. Some of our more daredevil fans made the short journey to watch the match, some opting to find camouflage between the lustrous foliage of the Wandle river bank whilst others opted for a closer perspective up against the fence. The Bec first team are much changed from last season, new manager Bryan Nzinga has had an immediate impact on the team. Although they featured many new faces from the side that looked set to finish in the top four of their division, Bec looked improved from the side the Terrors had faced last preseason. An exciting season ahead for our neighbours.
The Tooting & Mitcham side featured new face Jake Rose, who hit the ground running, ending an impressive performance with a goal to his name. On top of this an improvement could already be seen from the previous friendly, as the precious minutes playing together was already paying dividends. Another stand out performance from the match was Mark Waters, another midfield acquisition, who showed great composure, work ethic and understanding of the managers vision.
A theme of the preseason clashes so far has been the oppositions physical approach to trying to stifle our outlet players. The side has an abundance of pace and trickery and oppositions have not shied away from robustly attempting to stop our players. The concept of a ‘friendly’ match has very much been lost on some. A trend that I fully expect to extend into the league season.
Three Bridges fit the bill perfectly. The first preparation match against a side on the same step. Another match behind closed doors. The match was broken up a lot by the referee, who managed to annoy both sets of players and management equally with some strange and at points dangerous decision making. Three Bridges took the lead with an absolute belter, suspicions of hand ball followed by a powerful strike into the top corner. The Terrors responded with a great team goal. Waters, Coleman and Daly combining in the middle, Waters spraying the ball wide into the path of Brissett. Brissett driving at the defence, skipping past one, gliding past another before chipping the ball back to the edge of the area for Waters to power home with his head. Three Bridges were good value when they took the lead again, capitalising on a mistake. Kelvin Adjei scored the equaliser from a corner before another new player, Levi Phillips put the side ahead for the first time. A 3-2 win was probably deserved, but plenty of work to be done.
Next up was meant to be the visit of a conference south side to Imperial Fields. After they unceremoniously pulled out, amongst a lot of confusion over COVID 19 regulations, a match between the first team and the clubs under 23s side was hastily arranged to allow for a much needed test event to take place. 100 fans were allowed to purchase tickets in advance to watch the match and the clubs hard work to come up with a plan to keep players, fans and volunteers safe was put to the test. The hard work of Nick Shaw, Jackie, Emily and club chair Caroline McRoyall led to an incredibly successful event which now means the clubs season opener, an FA Cup fixture at home versus Fischer FC can accommodate up to 400 fans. The hard work of the many volunteers who helped out on the day, the ball washers, goal sprayers, turnstile operators and ground marshals made the day possible. A massive thank you to everyone who put their hand up to help, without you the club wouldn’t be where it is. No doubt.
The match was an interesting spectacle. A chance for most fans to see the side play since their last outing against Hanwell last season, plus an opportunity to take stock of the new arrivals. On top of this, the opposition itself was a point of interest. Which of this current cohort of Under 23s will break into the first team squad this season? Would any take the opportunity to impress the Bog End? On the evidence of the match, the development squads are full of talented players.
It is also important to note that many of those that played for the Under 23s side are members of the clubs academy programme. Young players, not yet past 17 and 18 years of age, going toe to toe with veterans of non-league football. This is a testament to the work that Ashley and his fellow academy coaches are undertaking, but also shows again that Ashley and Cornelius are willing to give young players the opportunity to step up. The First Team were put through their paces by the energetic young side, but their quality and experience shone through, with them ending the match 5-0 victors, with five different goal scorers.
So the night before last the side travelled to Merstham, to face up against some familiar faces. I didn’t make the journey, a quick break was needed before the season starts in earnest, but a whole host of the Bog End faithful did. Another game allowing fans. We now live in the epoch of the new normal where you might have to have your temperature taken before you enter the stadium, or you might spot players leaving the changing rooms wearing masks or even have to queue for slightly longer for your half time refreshments. All easy sacrifices to make, if it means we get to watch our beloved Stripes.
The match was end to end, without much bite from either side. After the game, Joel summarised, “For me we probably had better talent than Mertsham man to man. Few lads still learning the system and their roles. Mertsham probably more in tune with each other in that respect. Argument we should’ve had a penalty and to be fair if we met them again at any point I'd be confident we could beat them.
The first defeat of preseason. You never like to lose, but as long as the players and the managers are able to learn from the defeat then the match will have served its purpose. I can assure everyone that the coaching team has already starting unpicking the performance and starting planning the weeks training sessions. Fine tuning the engine before the main event starts in just over a week.
Carshalton and Haywards Heath to round off the campaign. Another set of tests for the squad. Two more friendlies matches before the less friendly matches start. I cannot wait, but still plenty of work to do and plenty of football to enjoy.
Up the Stripes!
📸 by @southlondonphotos
