match report

A tough test faced Town in their first match of the season when they travelled to Clay Cross to meet a side who had narrowly missed out on promotion in the last two seasons and tough test it turned out to be. Town again included several youngsters as Manager Steve Chappell continued his efforts to rebuild the team. After a reasonable start which saw Kyle Nicholson go close with a shot the stronger and more experienced Clay Cross side began to assert themselves and two quick goals in the 10th minute rocked Town back on their heels but they then showed plenty of resilience in what became a backs to the wall job with some good saves from keeper Chris Bennett and last ditch defending restricting the score to 2 – 0. Tommy Johnson went close with a shot and a spectacular overhead kick before two further goals just before half-time saw Clay Cross go in with a 4 – 0 lead.
Three goals from Clay Cross’s prolific scorer Josh Parfitt in the twenty minutes after half time giving him five for the game saw Town down but not out as the young side kept their heads up to keep going and sub Rikki Petersen scored a consolation goal after 75 minutes before two goals in the last 10 minutes saw Clay Cross run out 9 – 1 winners.
With two further testing away games to come it is stand and be counted time as Manager Chappell works hard to blend some reasonable individual performances into a team effort".
Town: Bennett, Carlisle [Feeney], Chappell, Job, Johnson, Montif [Petersen], Nicholson, J Stanley, R Stanley [Samuels], Thompson, Wilford.

Thanks to Jim Todd for the report