Aveley kicked-off their pre-season schedule at home to National League South side, Folkestone Invicta at Parkside on Tuesday 7th July. The starting eleven only had one Trialist featuring as the visitors took the lead 9 minutes into the game. Shortly after, Max Booth opened the scoring and his Aveley account after receiving the ball from 45 yards out to strike it into the top corner! Midway through the first half, the front line showed excellent work rate to win the ball high up the pitch which opened up some opportunities for George Saunders but didn't really test the keeper. Invicta then regained the lead with a strike from the left hand side from ex-Miller, Alejandro Machado. Halfway through the second half, new singing Prosper Keto who was announced via our social media platforms just before kick-off was taken down in the box and the Millers converted the penalty via Ollie Peters. Minutes after, Max booth did very well down the right into the middle of the park, he somehow found new signing Eddie Dsane who poked it past the keeper who had just come on before the penalty. A very good start for the Millers in pre-season.

Three days later, we hosted Leiston who began the game very well, scoring the first goal of the night only 8 minutes into the match. It took a quarter of an hour for Aveley to have their first attack of the night which fell to Eddie Dsane but the shot was blocked leading to another quick counter attack by the visitors to double their lead. Aveley won a corner through Prosper Keto which was crossed in towards Ollie Peters who had a well hit strike originally which was blocked. The rebound fell back to Peters but it was hit wide of the post. Just before half-time, the visitors get their third of the half. The half was not finished there - Ollie Peters hits a freekick from distance into the back of the net! Brett Munyard sent a near all changed eleven for the second half but Leiston were first to score. Just before the full-time whistle, the Skipper, Ryan Henshaw stayed forward to perform an acrobatic move to blast the ball past the visitors keeper. Defeat, but another lot of minutes went into the tank!

Our third fixture saw us host National League South side, Ebbsfleet United and very quickly they were first to take the lead from a wide set piece being deflected into the net. Throughout the first half, a lot of the ball was being played in the Aveley half with Ebbsfleet keeping it well. Aveley we're trying to get forward but it would break down easily with the Fleet's back line sweeping up. Just before half-time, Fleet double their lead via a counter attack from the left flank. Ten minutes into the second half, Fleet got their third from a well hit freekick. On the hour mark, both sides made a whole host of changes for Fleet to get their fourth at the same time. Toby Aromolaran did get one back for the Millers with fifteen minutes to go.

Six minutes into our next fixture, the Skipper gets his name on the score sheet again in this pre-season campaign against National League South side, Braintree Town. Ten minutes later, the visitors draw level as they slot the ball into the back of the net and then shortly after, they take the lead from the penalty spot. Aveley did come out the traps quickly in the second half which Ollie Peters converting from the spot again for then Albie Armin to get us the lead again from a cross into the box on the stroke of full-time.

The Millers then went onto back-to-back away fixtures, starting at Brightlingsea Regent of the Isthmian League Division One North. Two minutes before half-time, Jayden Gipson's header from a corner put the Millers into the break a goal up. Just under ten minutes into the second half, Malachi Napa played in Max Booth to slot his shot past the keeper with one of his first touches after coming off the bench. 65 minutes in and the Gaffa made changes and from the re-start, the ball got sent long and was knocked on by a youth player making the step up, onto the only Trialist on the team sheet that day to make the scoring even greater! Said Trialist was then later announced as being Anthony Jeffrey from Dulwich Hamlet. Minutes later, Gipson doubled his tally after Chris Harris' attempt at goal. Talking of Harris, he beat the offside trap shortly after from Gipson's long ball to make it five. Unfortunately, we didn't keep a clean sheet, but another very good display!

The Millers then made a very long trip to Canvey Island for Canvey Island to score within minutes of the game kicking-off. Not to worry, because Max Booth and Prosper Keto both got on the score sheet before half-time. Harris then gets another goal making it two-in-two before being rested after a long time on the sideline. A young youth player then got on the score sheet from a well worked goal. The sixteen year-old has definitely been a talking point for the club the last few weeks. Keep an eye out this week on our social media, Millers!

We finished pre-season with a trip to Roots Hall, the home of National League side, Southend United. The shrimper's took the lead from a deflected effort to beat Charlie Turner who was announced as a new signing / retained before kick-off. The Millers kept the ball in the Southend half for a large amount of the first half testing the Southend keeper multiple times. The biggest chance was off of Harris' head which went slightly wide of the right post. Half way through the second half, the Millers made a host of changes which lead to Southend doubling their lead through a penalty which was the first thing our Youth Goalkeeper had to deal with. Again, keep an eye out this week on our social media, Millers! The hosts then score another two on the stroke of full-time. The Millers we're defeated at Roots Hall but they did themselves proud and showed the 100+ travelling fans what they can look forward to for the upcoming season!

Thank you to all of you who we're at Parkside for these fixutres and if you followed us on the not so easy away days! Not long now until we kick-off our Isthmian League Premier Division campaign on Saturday at Parkside to Eastbourne Borough.

Keep Up-To-Date on Social Media
Official Club Instagram Account: @AveleyFC
Official Club X/Twitter Account: @AveleyFC
Official Club Facebook Page: Aveley Football Club
Official Club TikTok: @aveley.fc
Official Club YouTube Channel: Millers TV