100 Up For Luca

Our first meeting with League newcomers Seale will be memorable for both good and unfortunately bad reasons.

Seale are an impressive footballing side and came out with bundles of energy, pinning us back early on, but it quickly became clear that they struggle defensively, especially from set pieces.

Having dug in for the first 20 minutes we took the lead from Luca's inswinging free kick that Harri toe poked into the corner.

Seale deservedly equalised on 33 minutes with a good strike from the edge of the box. In the aftermath of the goal 2 Seale players (one a substitute) saw red and Carter was dismissed for us. Unfortunately this was an unacceptable incident that can't be condoned and one that ultimately overshadowed what looked like being a good game of football. We will deal with this internally.

With both sides down to 10 men the game really began to open up. On 39 we went back in front as Luca reached his big landmark. He played the ball into Oli 25 yards out, who set it for Luca and his fantastic curling effort was too good for the keeper despite him getting a touch.

Early in the second half we extended our lead as Oli clipped a lovely ball through to Webby who made a great run from midfield and he was upended for an obvious penalty. Luca fired it straight down the middle. His 19th goal in his last 10 games - an outstanding run of form.

Seale continued to cause us problems with their quick attacking play and there were so many chances at both ends it is too hard to recall them. Both sides should have scored many more goals, but in the end it was us who got the killer 4th on 79 as Harri rose highest to head home Luca's corner for his second of the game which capped off a fine individual showing in the second half.

In normal circumstances this would be a great win to really enjoy, but given what happened today it is particularly hard to revel in the 3 points as they seem rather unimportant.

What we can do is congratulate Luca on becoming only our second ever player to reach 100 goals for the club and what a way to do it with a brilliant strike. Here's to many more.

MoM: Luca - arguably our two best players from last season in Luca and Harri were the standout performers today, but with 4 goal involvements Luca takes this one. Mentions for the backline who were worked very hard.

Thanks to Rich, Albi and Webby for running the line.