WE SUFFER FIRST DEFEAT OF PRE-SEASON

This was a disappointing home defeat but we must take into consideration the quality of the team we were playing against, because we are unlikely to face a side as good as AFC Dunstable this season. This game was a reality check for our young players and they will undoubtedly learn lessons from it.

We had a couple of narrow escapes early on with Ollie Keil pulling off a good save but it only took Dunstable 16 minutes to open the scoring when Nathan Frater superbly tucked away his shot. Score 0-1.

We were struggling to get our game going, with our best effort coming from a Tom Brazier free kick that just cleared the bar, but that was down to our opponents who were definitely the better side. With half time within touching distance we had a chance of going in with just a one goal deficient when the visitors were awarded a very soft and very debateable penalty.

Dunstables record scorer BJ Christie took the penalty which was superbly saved by Ollie Keil but we were not on our toes and Lucas Kirkpatrick was able to follow up without a challenge to smash home the loose ball. That was unfortunate from our point of view but hopefully we will learn from this incidence. HT Score 0-2.

In the second half Dunstable extended their lead through Christie in the 53rd minute and Louis Collier on the hour mark to give them an unassailable lead. Score 0-4.

To our credit we kept going and started to play some good football but we found it tough to breach our opponents solid defence. Our best scoring opportunity came when Frankie Hercules was played through but was rather cynically pulled down from behind to prevent him from having a clear goal scoring opportunity. It was a clear red card but no one wants to see these flashed in a friendly so the outcome was just a free kick which unfortunately we failed to score from. FT Score 0-4.

It was a tough afternoon for our young players but they did improve as the game went on and they will benefit from the experience. They were up against a very good team that narrowly failed to get promotion to the Southern Premier Division last season which would have put them 2 levels above us. They will certainly be strong contenders for the title this time round and we wish them all the very best for the season ahead.

Our next game will be on Tuesday when Amersham Town are the visitors to Tring.

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