Sunday 9 September 2007

Paul Birch FC suffered a poor defeat in their last pre-season friendly before the start of the season.

After a number of players were unavailable due to injury and holiday, Paul Howe was forced to play a makeshift side and it showed. The side started with 12 available players, however, John McGuigan turned up suffering from illness and was forced to withdraw after 10 minutes and Ryan Marks limped out of the pre-match warm-up. This left Steve Birch, who has also not featured alot this season due to injury, to replace the vice-captain, which led to striker Antony Knight partnering Ashioti in the centre of defence.

The blues held out for a good 25 minutes before the home side scored and then they added 3 more before half-time.

It was damage limitation for Howe now and the side did play better in the second half. However, they did concede another before Steve Birch capped his return by putting a neat finish past the keeper.

Paul Howe will be concerned by this lacklustre performance but will also know that he should have a number of players at his disposal for the Griffin Sports game including captain James Collins and this will undoubtedly be a boost for the blues.

All the talking now stops and the season begins........

Man of the Match

Nick Byworth - Good debut from the left sided player and could be a useful addition to the squad.

Team:

Watts, Beale, McGuigan, Ashioti, Byworth, Eze, Reeves, Selby, Tarrant, Smith, Knight, Birch, Marks

(Roll on Subs)