Lost 2-1
Scorers: Rhys Harmer
MoM: Aidan Fourie
DoD: Rhys Harmer
As the final game of pre-season encroached the team were looking forward to a new season with a rather young and exciting team. The final game of our pre-season resulted in a game against Folkestone Optimists hockey club 1st XI. Going into this game we knew that they would treat this as a cup final with many familiar faces in the opposition. Our main aim of this game was to start to gel as a team and work on many different aspects of the game such as our press, which allowed us to pressurise them higher up the pitch. With many new players playing together for the first time this was our first chance to see how we played together before the league starts.
As the game started, we were immediately on the front foot breaking them down using our press forcing them to use the long ball which resulted in us counter attacking with an overload. This resulted in a very positive start for us however, we were not able to gain an advantage. Throughout the first half with some great balls down the line from our defenders we were able to attack the D resulting in the forwards and midfielders to win some short corners. After narrowly going wide from our first short corner we were positive that our second would result in a goal. Figgy off of castle one was drag flicking to the middle of the right-hand side of the goal taking a slight deflection off of the goalkeeper onto the body of the post man. This meant a penalty flick in our favour and a great chance to go 1-0 up before half time.
Rhys was allowed to take the penalty flick, he seemed very confident, that he was going to score. He stepped up and knew exactly what he was going to do. He sent the keeper to the right, but Rhys slotted it in the bottom left corner making the keeper go the wrong way. This put the team 1-0 up after a positive first half. Throughout this half there were many chances to get another crucial goal however, we were unable to find the crucial finishing touch.
Going into the second half we tried to replicate our first half efforts and secure a convincing lead. With many chances to convert we were again unable to find the target. With a few short corners in the second half, we forced the goalkeeper to make some crucial saves for their team. With some great defending and out letting we were able to transfer the ball and get it down the line for a counter attack which shows very positive signs entering the new season. Unfortunately, due to our high pressing and continuous attacking we switched off slightly defensively resulting in a couple of late goals for the opposition. A special mention goes to Aidan for his man of the match performance with a strong performance in midfield stopping counter attacks and his good distribution to release the forwards.
However, despite the result, there were many positives to take out of this game and out of the whole of pre-season. The pre-season puts us in good stead for a positive season, with a young and exciting team.