The next attempt to arrange a friendly for Chawton Athletic F.C. finally came to fruition as they met a surprisingly strong looking Weybridge "C" team at a fairly grassy and bumpy Froyle pitch on Wednesday night.
A quick team meeting firstly to learn the names of those players drafted in and secondly to figure out where on earth everyone was playing lead to the following formation.
Matt - Goalkeeper
Martin - Right Back
Rich - Centre Back
Paul - Centre Back
Robbie - Left Back
Clark - Left Midfield
George - Centre Midfield
Lee - Centre Midfield
Ben - Right Midfield
Vinnie - Centre Forward
Bob - Centre Forward
Jez and Wayne - on the subs bench.
The early openings were cagey as you would imagine, the Weybridge looking fairly organized against Chawton's slightly thrown together side, but Chawton started the better much to their own surprise and to their opponents, creating half chances by exploiting the weakness down the wings. Athletic; playing down the slope in the first half, struggled early to weight their through balls, but there was definite encouragement.
The first chance of note fell to the 'bridge though as Matt advanced from his net to close down a through ball only for the striker to beat him to it, time stood still as the expertly executed lob honed in on the goal, but relief all round as the hard pre-season ground saw the ball bounce up and over the bar for a goal kick.
Several further half chances fell the way of Chawton, with the main catalysts being Clark and Ben on the flanks, but another through ball caught the Athletic defence out and Matt had to smartly deflect a close range shot round the post for a corner, which was cleared to safety.
A powerful clearance by George struck Paul in the face and the centre back went down and stayed down, the ref stopping play as the 'Bridge striker was about to pull the trigger.
The game ebbed and flowed, the referee having allowed rolling subs, saw Jez replace George who took over line running duties, Vinny drop back into the midfield and Jez take his place up top.
Then the first goal of the evening 'Bridge worked their way up their left wing and released their number nine, unfortunately his central striking partner had made his way beyond the defence in the middle and as Matt was edging out to cover the square ball the striker rolled the ball into the absolutely huge space he left at his near post, the 'Bridge celebrated wildly.
Chawton kept their heads and their nerves and pushed forward looking for an equaliser, Clark cutting in the from his left wing berth fired a tremendous shot which the 'Bridge keeper did well to palm away, and Jez and Vinny going close when perhaps (from 80 yards away in goal) it looked easier to score.
'Bridge's second goal came from a similar area on the pitch to the first, with the number 9 crashing the ball from close range high into the roof of the net past a stationary Matt (who having been used to playing in 5 a side goals for 6 months let it go thinking it was going over the bar oops).
The referee had his work cut out as a overly-physical 'Bridge set about Bob and Vinny and countless 50/50 decisions seemed to against Athletic, Bridge's niggly fouls were looking as though they could make the game boil over but thankfully it settled down a bit as the half time whistle approached.
No oranges, half a cigarette for the keeper and a quick turn around because of the light, saw Athletic leap from the blocks, now playing up the slope, their through balls were suddenly catching the statuesque 'Bridge defence square time after time, and only last ditch tackles saw the score remain at 2-0.
There appeared to be less for the ref to do in the first half, though suspect he collected a handsome sum if he spreadbet that there would be more than 15 foul throws in the game lol.
The ball was being passed around much better by Athletic with Clark and Ben on the flanks turning their men regularly.
'Bridge were looking fairly dangerous on the counter attack, their passing game working their way around a more attacking focused Athletic midfield, but only a few tame shots were the outcome.
Athletic then made a game of it as Clark spurred on by his dominance of the left wing tore onto a superbly weighted through ball by Rich, taking on before confidently lifting it over the advancing keeper, an excellent finish and the goal of the game (in my book).
Athletic pushed on looking for an equalizer and nearly got it as Robbie struck a post and despite regaining possession the chance was snuffed out.
By now, playing with at least three up front at times so it seemed, Athletic were tiring through the middle and a tackle from behind from a tracking back Bob set up a free kick twenty yards out just to the right of the upright, Matt set a three man wall, and took up obviously the perfect position and did well to palm the resulting strike over the bar for a corner, before claiming the corner with a good catch under a little pressure.
Athletic; through Robbie struck the other post and it looked unlikely to be their night as rebound rolled to Vinnie's feet only for the shot from 8 yards to clear the bar.
There was time enough for Matt to double punch a corner and unfortunately for the 'bridge to grab probably an undeserved third, Martin unlucky not to clear and again Matt was left to watch another close range shot hit the roof of the net.
The final minutes were edging closer, Athletic desperate to pressurize a faltering 'Bridge, but the counter breaks kept coming, Matt saving well twice before palming a shot destined for the corner onto a post late on. The whistle finally went in dubious light, 'Bridges more organized style winning against the slightly more gung-ho approach of Athletic.
Blog Man of the Match goes to Clark, who worked tirelessly up the wing, scored a great goal and generally made mincemeat out of the right back several times.
Quite a lot to work on, mostly fitness wise, but as the season goes on the control, weight of passing and positional understanding will also improve endlessly.
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