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Ryan Owens reports on his side's 3-1 defeat against Hadleigh United Reserves on Tuesday 21 August
On a night made for football, we had the visit of my old club Hadleigh United Reserves to test ourselves against once more. We lost the away friendly to them last month 3-2 so we knew we were going to have a tough test.
This was our last friendly before the season starts on Saturday, so a tough test for the lads was required to fine tune a few things before the big day. The game started with a high tempo with both teams failing to settle. The pitch was slick but both teams struggled to get the ball down and pass it with any fluency.
As the game progressed Hadleigh United's experience started to show with them settling the quickest. The visitors took the lead from a corner when poor marking allowed their striker to have a free header from 6 yards. The Melford team re-grouped and were back on level terms when a free kick from JACK TAYLOR found its way past the Hadleigh Keeper to send us in level at the break.
The second half started in much the same fashion as the first ended, Hadleigh had a lot of the possession and created a few chances but a combination of good defending and poor finishing kept the scores level.
We made a change in goal and unfortunately one of the first things the new keeper had to do was pick the ball out of the net. The forward who looked 3 yards offside was given a clear run on goal and he duly slotted past John Griggs in the Melford goal. We made several changes after this that interrupted the flow of the game 8 in all which made me feel a bit like the ex England Manager but we needed to give all the lads a run out. I think these changes didn't help when again Hadleigh sprung the offside trap, the forward rounding the keeper before firing home their 3rd goal of the evening.
This was a good test for the lads and again good experience for a side that is full of youth. There are lessons to be learned and I think over time the squad will get the experience they need to compete on a level foot with teams like Hadleigh. Its going to be a tough season for all involved but one I'm looking forward to, a good start is essential so let's hope we come back from Clacton next week with 3 points safely in the bag.
Melford : Stefan Robson, Scott Barr, Mark Dack, Mark Arnold, Craig Green, Kirk Hardy, Liam Cawtheray, Jack Taylor, Steve Chisholm, Carl Cook, Karl Delves
Subs : John Griggs, Ross Swain, Andy Adams, Anthony Clarke, Danny Bull, Steve Hadley, Neil Hayward
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