Match Report - 30th August 2006

Headstone Manor took on Pinner Albion on the 30th in a friendly. Pinner Albion this year will be in the same division as Headstone. Pinner Albion were using the chance to try out some new boys whilst Headstone were trying out a new formation and were limited on players to 11 due to holiday.

The game started with Ryan Hayes who had played in defence all last season being moved to midfield, Michael Prendeville who had also played in defence moving into midfield with George Bensted for the first time. New signing Jake was playing wing back with James Brophy. Headstone for the first time tried three at the back, Luke, Sammy and Carl. Up front Liam was joined by Rory for the first time. Sam Bensted was in goal.

The boys straight from the kick off started to dominate the game the midfield were proving to be too strong and Headstone started to dominate. Whilst some of the passing was not at the level I would expect from such talented players initial they were still able to keep the ball in the Pinner Albion half. Within 5 mins we had our first chance which Rory was unlucky not to score from. The game was firmly being played in Pinner Albion half when the ball was cleared by the Pinner Albion boys it was dealt with calmly by our defence. Headstone were playing good attacking football with James and Jake causing major problems. Whilst Headstone had all the chance at half time we were only 2-0 ahead having missed at least 8 clear chances.

At half time Rory and Sam swapped and Michael was moved up front to see if he could capitalise on the chances. The boys all felt that they had been playing well but were aware that one goal would put Pinner Albion back into the game. The second half started as the first had finished with Headstone pushing Pinner Albion hard.

The fresh legs of Sam and Michael upfront had the desired effect with Headstone scoring freely. The second half saw Headstone score 8 goals. Whilst a number of the goals were outstanding it was good to see Luke score his first goal for Headstone. Pinner Albion to their credit never gave up and deserved their goal just before the end of the match. Headstone finished the game with an oustanding individual goal from Liam. It was good to see Headstone play such good football and I was impressed to see so many different scorers (George B 3, Michael P 2, Sam B 2, Luke J 1, Ryan H 1 and Liam C 1).

The game finished with all the boys shaking hands and leaving the pitch in good spirit. Pinner Albion finished fifth last year and whilst the boys did very well they all understood that Pinner Albion will be harder to beat when the season begins since they were trying out a number of new boys.