The good ship South 3rds set sail for another season with our first pre-season game, taking on Letchworth 3rds at Catz. Our squad is showing only minor changes after last season’s promotion, which is hopeful. Andy F is off to Uni, but Tom S is sticking around for another year, so we at least keep one player under-20 turning out regularly. Joe is now skippering the 4ths, so presumably we won’t be seeing him regularly. For this particular game player-of-the-season Matt was called up to fill a hole for the 2nds, and with a few other early season absentees that gave an opportunity for the Monckasurus and Dinosaur Jr to show their worth.

The game began well enough from our perspective, with a few promising situations in the visitors half. However, within ten minutes it had become apparent that Letchworth were the stronger side as they pressed us way back. Disorganisation raged in our defence and midfield, with an absence both of marking and seemingly effort. Without a fine display from Johnny B between the sticks this could have been a rout. As it was, Letchworth were out of sight by half-time*.

The first goal was terribly soft. The Letchworth centre-forward beat his man on halfway, and that was enough to spring them through three-on-zero (I told you there were some defensive issues!). Johnny B did what he could, but was drawn and passed around as one would expect in such a completely hopeless situation. The second came when a player waltzed through the centre of our defence, getting a shot away that John did well to parry. However, with his defence apparently having shot a glance at the Medusa, he had to save not one but two follow-ups, the second of which was one too many. A third came when a midfielder was allowed to arrive on the 25 in glorious isolation, which Letchworth used to work a neat triangle from winger, to midfielder to forward, who crashed home.

A serious going over of the defensive tactics and workrate was had at half-time, as neither was at the necessary level. Fortunately it paid off, as we were now working off the ball, picking players up, communicating with each other and generally making it a bit harder for our visitors to attack. That is not to say they didn’t create chances, but not as many as in the first period. Johnny B produce a pad save from a snap shot from the top of the circle and another block with his kickers from a shot from an angle, Neil made a last ditch tackle to dispossess a player seemingly about to slide the ball into an open net having rounded JB, and most spectacularly the Monckasaurus plucking one short corner flick out of the air just before it fizzed into the top corner. The player who produced this shot repeated the trick a few minutes later, this time getting the ball past Dave for the only goal of the half.

It was far from all one way in the second period though, as we were creating stuff ourselves, with a number of crosses from the right looking properly threatening. One produced a seeming tap-in at the far post but the contact wasn’t quite made by [naming no names] (it did hit the foot having got under the stick, but that doesn’t count), another had Rob diving to attempt to convert on his reverse with Nathan also in attendance, Rob getting a piece of the ball but not enough to put it on target. A couple of others whizzed across the danger zone untouched, and generally the play felt much more even than the first period.

Overall it was a good work out and we could draw the positive that the second half was much better than the first. Plus Letchworth 3rds are a significantly stronger team than we have played in previous pre-seasons (mid-table in 5SW last time out), as requested of the fixture secretary in preparation for our first ever go at 4NW. And they were kind enough to lay out what will happen if we are sloppy in our organisation or lazy in our workrate. Thanks (I think!).

* - there was some debate in the pub afterwards about the final score, as it often the case in friendlies (cf. last season’s opening game, which we recollected as 10-2 and Stortford as 7-5!). The Letchworth boys thought it was 5-0, four coming in the first half. One pessimist from our side thought it was 6-0, but others remembered it as 4-0. Having wandered back to the pitch to watch the 5ths game, I encountered one of the Umpires, who had the score down as 4-0. So that stands as the semi-official correct scoreline. Also noted in the pub conversation was the excellent spirit the match had been played in with no cross words between the sides, and both informing the Umps of shorts against themselves, etc. This led to talk of a possible re-match at Letchworth later in the season, if we can find a free date (George?)