New Reserves Manager, Chris Tookey, had to make some late changes to his squad as Connor Byrne was sidelined with tonsillitis and Joe Ivory had to drop out as well. Mike Parker came into the squad and, along with Jack Horgan, he presented an impenetrable barrier to the visitors attack for most of the game. Forget the unfortunate 19 second goal when a speculative shot took a big deflection and left stand in keeper Craig Open stranded.
Big Craig had an excellent game with accurate distribution and good communication with his back line. Jack Horgan headed in an equaliser after the ball bounced back off the crossbar and Mike Parker could have given us a deserved lead when his header from a left wing corner was brilliantly saved by Alleyn’s veteran keeper.
Wickham established a strong foothold in the first 45 minutes after a shaky start and were unlucky to reach the break 1 – 0 down. Both sides played some good football with Eman and Chris Eaden looking dangerous but I kept wondering where the goals were going to come from.
Alleyns scored a second against the run of play and it was only their keeper that was keeping them in the game – he made a brave save from a left wing corner to deny a second goal for Jack Horgan and then denied skipper Ian Brooke.
We always looked capable of equalising and when it came it was a delightful goal. Steve Jones coolly dinked the ball over their keeper’s flailing arms after some excellent link up play inside the Alleyns penalty area.
Both sides will be happy with the effort that they put into this pre-season friendly – it was a hot afternoon and referee Paul Martin (another good game for The Rat) allowed two drinks breaks. It ended 2 – 2 and Tooks will be slightly disappointed that he didn’t win this one but the squad had plenty of experience and on another day will convert more of their chances. A word for their keeper, he is not quite as old as me but he’s surely won’t see 50 again, he made five or six top saves and played with the Corinthian spirit of old. Last season he was in their First team before he got injured and I look forward to crossing paths with him later in the campaign whichever team he graces.
Man of the Match??
Mike Parker? Jack Horgan? Craig Open? Steve Jones (for the goal alone)?

The First team played HAC on a 4G surface and won 3 – 2. I was told that we should have scored 12 but I’m not sure if this included the pre match kick in. Sam Murray scored twice and Joe Kelly scored the other so this was a good warm up for our opening League fixture next week.
Who are we playing next Saturday??
Alleyns at Corkscrew Hill.
Will the Veteran Keeper be between the sticks? I hope so.

The Sunday side had a really tough fixture at SC Thamesmead in their first ever game and not surprisingly they lost 4 – 1 to a side that were unbeaten last season. The final score didn’t however reflect the game but some sloppy defending cost us dear. At 3 -0 down we got back into contention when Charlie McGeary scored but a further goal from a long ball sealed our fate. The boys had a couple of injuries but remain upbeat and they are looking forward to their home debut – we expect a good level of support from all the Bluebloods.