PRE SEASON PREPARATIONS GOING WELL

The summer is a time of optimism and hope especially amongst football fans who dream of glory and trophies for their team during upcoming season. Us Athletic supporters are no different so after going unbeaten in 3 friendlies it is no surprise that there is a buzz around the club at the moment.

A number of players from last season have moved onto pastures new so a lot of credit must go to Ryan and his coaching team for attracting some new skilful mainly young replacements and in a short time moulding them into a promising team.

We must strike a note of realism after our fine 5-1 win over Kings Langley because the previous night they played their First Team against Aylesbury United (who they beat 4-0) and so fielded their young Development Team against us which included Leo Farruch who was very impressive when on load with us last season and who was amongst the scorers in the Final when we won the Premier Division Cup. But we can point to the fact that we also put out a mainly young team which included some players from our Youth Team.

The visitors had clearly been coached to play the ball to feet and not aimlessly hoof it up the field and with us doing likewise it was a good game to watch. Our guests started strongly but we defended well with Jack Stevens and George Carbery outstanding in the middle of defence.

We got an early break through when skipper George Carbery headed home a well taken corner in the 11th minute. Score 1-0. The game was fairly even for the rest of the half but three minutes before the interval Tom Brazier, who scored 14 goals for Buckingham Athletic last season, broke through the oppositions defence then slipped a lovely pass to Guiseppe Delgaudio who scored superbly from a tight angle. Score 2-0.

At the start of the second half KL attacked strongly but again we were up to the challenge although we had to rely on Ollie Keil to make a fine save from Leo Farruch. We increased our lead in the 67th minute when Godlove Oppong set up 16 year-old Harrison Mead who tucked the ball away like a seasoned veteran. Score 3-0.

Eight minutes later Godlove turned from provider to scorer when he headed home a corner. KL got a consolation goal in the 85th minute following a fine move but we restored our four goal margin just before the final whistle when Godlove headed home another corner, to make it 3 goals from corners. Final Score 5-1,

This was a good game to watch with two youthful teams willing to play football with very few fouls. We wish Leo and his team mates the best for the rest of the season.

Having seen the First Team in 2 games now (unfortunately I missed the first game against Winslow United) it is reassuring to see some players returning such as Adam Sawyer, Matt Ellis, Frankie Hercules, Godlove Oppong, Jack Stevens, Ollie Keil, Will Bisney, Ali Mohiuddin, Jimmy Doherty and George Carbery.

But it is also great to see some new faces whose names I dont know yet but we will be publishing some details soon. Two newcomers that did stand out (and whose names I was able to find out from their dads who were sitting next me in the stand!) were 17 year full back Bogdan Marian who is on loan from Watford Academy and 20 year old centre forward Guiseppe Delgaudio. I am confident we will be hearing a lot about these two players soon.

Next game sees AFC Duntable visit us on Saturday for a friendly.

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