Canford United won their latest pre-season game 4-2 against local visitors Sturminster Marshall. In a good spirited pre-season game, Canford played some great football at times continuing with their high intensity pressing game and sharp passing. With their squad starting to return to full numbers after the summer holidays, Canford chose to play 3 thirds of 30 minutes in order to give everybody a fair run out and mindful of the fact that we have 3 games in a week.
It was the visitors that started the sharpest with an early chance that was well saved by Daffy with the visitors then firing over from the rebound. However once Canford settled into the game they began to take control with the midfield of Madge, Marshy and Mcgrath playing some great stuff that was too quick for the opposition and utilised the hard working wingers Oli and Ben with some great through balls. Kinger had the first chance from a long goal kick but lobbed just over, whilst the defence had to keep on their toes to make some vital last ditch blocks. The breakthrough came on 19 minutes when a great free kick was floated to the back post from Matt Mcgrath and Jordan Dunkley nodded home his first goal for the senior team. Despite their dominance, Canford were restricted to long range shots with a couple firing just wide before Daffy once again pulled off a fantastic reaction save to keep Canford in the lead at the first change round.
In the second thirty minutes, Canford reverted to a 4-4-2 and took a while to settle into the line up. Once they did, once again they started to show their quality in particular with Mike Davidson linking up well with Connor Wright down the right hand side, and the returning Eugene McIntyre that kept bursting forward from centre back. The goal in this 30 minutes came on 52 minutes and was a fantastic team move starting at left back with Webby before Sam Fields burst through playing an excellent one two with Connor Wright before firing home. To their credit, the visitors never stopped trying throughout the game and had a couple of decent chances but didn't hit the target whilst for Canford Kinger fired wide when played in at an angle and Matt Mcgrath hit a long range effort that fizzed over the bar.
In the last 30 minutes Canford soon extended their lead to 3-0 when Lee Madgewick hit a shot from the edge of the box that flew into the roof of the net on 66 minutes. Lezer almost made it four just two minutes later but his header came back off the foot of the post. With some tired bodies, the game now became stetched with Marshy using the space to pick out Lezer and Sam Fields with some sublime through balls. Sam also burst through once again firing just wide. The back four made some vital blocks with the opposition carving out opportunities but Sturminster Marshall grabbed themselves a consolation goal after a free kick was swung in on 85 minutes and a mix up saw the player head home. However on 86 minutes, Stur got themselves back into the game with Dean Fields penalised and conceding a penalty having just got on the wrong side of his man after pushing forward, his only mistake in another excellent performance. With some tired legs and the opposition tails now up, to their credit Canford responded by going straight up the other end and making the game safe on 87 minutes. A good free kick from Marshy was floated to the back post where Jordan Dunkley and Adam Wright attacked the ball and between them they steered the ball back across goal for Ben Winter to nod home and seal a thoroughly deserved victory.
Some good performances all round with Canford starting to look in good shape for the start of the season with mentions for good performances from Webby and Sam Fields but man of the match was Marshy with some great touches and passing in centre mid and his best game for the seniors.
Final Score - Canford Utd 4-2 Sturminster Marshall
Scorers - Jordan Dunkley, Sam Fields, Lee Madgewick, Ben Winter
