Casuals and Pelham made it two wins out of two against premier division sides in as many weeks. Pelham followed on from last weeks 4-1 win over QPR FC with a 6-1 victory over Grange United FC. Pelham are coming to the end of their pre-season now with just one game left after this one now before the season starts, and they have been testing themselves against teams from the top division. The home side once again came through strongly and put in a good performance overall, particularly in the second half. Pelham started brightly and had some very early phases of play and early attacks. The home side broke the deadlock after just five minutes with Tim Shaw scoring directly from a free kick and sticking the ball the other side to the keeper as expected, catching him off guard. However although they took the early lead the home side weren't quite settled and organised and Grange United took advantage of this having the next few waves of attack. Pelham were very much on the back foot and unfortunately it was all down to themselves, losing the ball in stupid places on the pitch and having no shape. The inevitable equaliser came on the 15 minute mark with Grange United getting in behind one time too many and the away side striker tucked the ball away into the back of the net. That goal was the kick up the backside the home side needed and slowly but surely they became more organised and started to communicate a lot better. They started to null the away side attacks and create a few more of their own. They restored their one goal advantage around the half hour mark as some neat link up play say the ball eventually break to George Wappett who took the ball on and slotted home with his left foot into the corner. Pelham continued to sort themselves out from their earlier lapse and grew stronger as the half went on. Some more half chances fell to Shaw and Wappett but both teams went into the break with the score at 2-1 to the home side. Pelham continued their much improved performance in the second half and looked a totally different side from the first 45 minutes. They dominated play early on and started to get their passing going a bit more. Both Shaw and Wappett started to play off each other more as well as playing off Dan Arrans hold up play, and soon enough the home side were creating chances and getting in behind again. Pelhams lead was extended to a two goal advantage soon enough with Tim Shaw slotting home his second of the game with a neat finish after a defensive mix up from Grange Uniteds centre back and goalkeeper. Three became four not too long after with George Wappett getting his name on the score sheet again with his second of the day. At 4-1 the away side looked dejected and Pelham took full advantage. Looking much more comfortable in possession, Pelham continued to string together some good phases of play and Shaw completed his hat-trick with around fifteen minutes left making it 5-1 after a great one touch flick through from Dan Arran. The scoring was complete with five/ten minutes left to play as some good work from Tim Shaw saw him wriggle through the oppositions defence, only for him to be tripped at the final hurdle in the box, winning a penalty. Shaw cooly stepped up and slotted the ball into the bottom left hand corner. Pelham played out the rest of the game on top and could have extended their scoring with further chances coming for Dan Arran and Liam Perry. The final whistle blew and Pelhams run in these back end fixtures of pre season continues. Another good win today boys and although we started off poorly it says something that we went into the half with the lead still even though we weren't at the races. Second half was much more like us and we dominated the last 45 minutes. Micks man of the match goes to Tim Shaw with 4 goals now taking his tally to 8 goals in 3 games. Today also shows our strength and depth in the squad, with the starting 11 looking very decent but also the list of players missing looks very strong as well. One final friendly left next weekend before the season kicks off so let's keep this momentum going and keep building up the good play and fitness before the first game of the season.
