PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY
THURSDAY 17TH JULY 2008
VERWOOD TOWN 1 CHRISTCHURCH 3

Our first friendly of season 08/09 played at Heathlands and with a lot of new faces.

1.Chris Willis 2 Steve Moore 3 Paul Stephens 4 Dave Cox 5 Chris Lynch 6 Damon Cousins 7 Charlie Elysee 8 Paul Arnold 9 Pete King 10 Liam Kinsgsley 11 Luke Homer. On the bench waiting to star….Matt Newbury Dan Goodall Martin Newbury.

A first minute attack from Christchurch had Willis tested and then it was Kingsley pushing through to bring a save from Christchurch keeper.

Arnold sent Elysee away and a cross was cleared. Moore followed up and a deep cross forced a corner. Homer's inswinger was inch perfect for Lynch to steer the ball into the net. 1-0.

Christchurch got themselves together and a series of attacks particularly down the left threatened but Moore was reading the game well and Cox was mopping up anything that crept through. We were solid but signs were there of too many misplaced passes finding the opposition.

Lynch and Cox were working well as a partnership and with the impressive Cousins busy in them middle we were worth the lead.

21 minutes gone and Paul Stephens crumpled to the floor with knee trouble. On came 'Gino' and a shuffle at the back left us disrupted for a short time. Christchurch pushed on and Willis made a couple of good saves and again the partnership of Lynch and Cox was rock solid.

Moore growled his way through the last fifteen minutes of the half, pushing and cajoling to maintain our grip on the game.

The last ten minutes saw Christchurch digging deeper and with a minute of the half left finally broke through leaving Willis to prove excellent handling and send us in on the whistle 1-0 ahead.

Liam Kingsley and Dave Cox made way for Dan Goodall and Matt Newbury. King dropped slightly to work mid field behind Goodall and we sprung a quick attack using the pace of Homer to good advantage. A gap opened up for King and a snap shot had the keeper beaten but it was off target slightly and hit the side netting.

Goodall was making impact and we gradually got on top. Christchurch defence covered well and we found difficulty breaking them down.

A snap raid and we left space for a shot….1-1.

Tails up Christchurch forced us back. Cousins and Arnold had to fight harder to maintain their grip in the middle of the park but Christchurch overall were looking the sharper of the two teams and a bit more organised.

Homer, Elysee and Goodall combined well to break down Christchurch defence on the left and a Homer cross whistled inches past the boot of King.

Cjhristchurch hit back and this time it was Willis who provided the brick wall Christchurch couldn't break.

For a while the game meandered but Christchurch at this point looked the fitter of the two teams and were forced back.

23 minutes left and we were split wide open for a shot to hit the back of the net. 1-2.

Moore limped off with ten minutes left and Arnold then suffered calf strain. Changes and a re shuffle meant we looked a bit more disjointed and with five minutes left Christchurch ran free to slot the ball past the advancing Willis to make the score 1-3.

We made a token effort to get back into the game but couldn't make headway. The game finished 1-3.

It was a good work out though and with so many changes wasn't a bad performance.