After last years drubbing from AFC Ewell's Saturday side we had no idea what to expect from their Sunday side but the match turned out to be a classic. We started off very poorly and struggled while Ewell piled on the pressure. They snuck one in after about 10 mins when the striker was able to get a first touch shot off and caught the keeper off guard. They then notched up a 2nd within 20 minutes and it looked all too familiar for this preseason. After about 25 mins we worked our way back into the game as they backed off us and gave us plenty of time on the ball and Gary had started to get forward more and pull the strings from the back. The pressure paid off when a poor backpass led to a mistake from the keeper which left debutant Dave Shaw with the ball at his feet and he literally walked the ball into the net. Just before half time we were unfortunate to go 3-1 down when Gary pulled their tricky winger down in the box and the referee gave it and the striker sent Driver the wrong way. Despite being 3-1 down at half time we had renewed confidence about the way we had played in the last 20 minutes of that half. When we came out for the 2nd half it was a completely different ball game. Frankie and Tulley had swapped along with Gary pushing up into midfield and the midfield were able to run the game. about 60 minutes in Mikey Bradley was able to break and he finished off cooly and before we'd even had enough time to find our positions Frankie had got hold of the ball and unleashed a shot which beat the keeper easily and we were level. Ewell were tiring and the pressure was on as Mikey also hit the bar with a free kick and we had plenty of other chances. Driver came on for Shaw and was able to pick up a tap in after Mikey's shot rebounded into Driver's feet. We were in control at this point but Ewell found a renewed surge and for the last 10 minutes laid siege and some good defending from the back 4 were able to hold them off for a while until they made it 4-4 and then with 2 minutes to go they were able to latch on to the end of the of a poor backpass and steal a winner. Despite the result it was a great performance against a good team and every player played their part in the performance. Man of The Match could have gone to many players but after he came on Billy Gent gave us a great option at Right Back where he played accurate passes going forward and was very solid defensively putting in some match saving tackles and therefore he gets MOTM.
That was the last pre-season friendly and despite some poor results at times we have looked exceptionally good on occasions and we should go into the season with renenwed confidence. Our last 2 seasons our preseason schedule had put us in a good place where we have started like a steam train and hopefully we can keep that going. There are no fixtures currently up for the league and it may be that we aren't given a game until the 20th September. If there is no league games we will do some training sessions on the 6th and the 13th.
