Nottsborough 4 Old Hamptonians 3                                                         Pre season friendly

Nottsborough snatch it in the last quarter!

Nottsborough's third pre-season friendly was played with four separate quarters of 25 minutes. With 19 players available it was felt this would be the best format to give all 19 players as much playing time as possible. Old Hamptonians provided very lively opposition and this game could have gone either way.

Nottsborough played a strong team during the first quarter. The back four of Hickes, Parker, Grove and Cullinan looked secure and they played the ball around the back very nicely. In centre midfield Chris Kerr and Steve McMillan had control with Dan McEwan on the right and new man Ross Newell on the left getting behind the Hamptonians defence on a couple of occasions. Up front Hughes and Ewin put in a lot of running and it was Alex Ewin who gave Nottsborough the lead with a good volley home following a Newell cross. 1-0 to Nottsborough at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was much more even with Dave Howson replacing Chris Kerr as the only change.

Nottsborough made 8 changes at half time and it took them a while to settle down. Hamptonians snatched an equaliser when Johnny Briggs the new second team skipper was penalised 25 yards out. The free kick flashed past Tom White for a terrific equaliser. Things got worse for Nottsborough during this period as Hamptonians went 2-1 up and shortly after the start of the last quarter they increased the lead to 3-1. Chris Kerr who had been introduced again for the fourth quarter then took a decisive hand in the game. Firstly he opened up the Hamptonians defence on the right wing and his slide rule pass found Ewin turning the ball past the Hamptonians keeper. 10 minutes from the end a fierce Ewin drive saw him secure his hat-trick as the ball swerved past the Hamptonians keeper who got a hand to the ball but could not stop it finding the top corner. Finally with Hamptonians tiring at the end Nottsborough got away down the left through Owen Prosser and the low cross left Chris Kerr with a great chance to snatch the win and this he did most emphatically.

First half - White; Hickes, Parker, Grove, Cullinan; McEwan, McMillan, Kerr C (Howson), Newell; Ewin, Hughes

Second half - White; Rocher, Nimmo, Grove, Webb; Prosser, Briggs, Green, Howson (Kerr C); Ewin, Hughes

Old Parmiterians 1 Nottsborough 4                                                     Pre season friendly

Nottsborough travelled all the way to Chigwell for their first pre-season friendly and came away with a good 4-1 result. Old Parmiterians have had a full clear-out of their first team but they started this match the better and looked far more likely to take the lead. Simon Webb had to get in a great recovery tackle and Tom White in goal was kept quite busy without having to make any full-length saves. Dean Mitic, who starred for the 3's last season, had an impressive 45 minutes alongside new skipper Arren Sutcliffe. Nottsborough were coming much more into the game in the last 15 minutes of the half and Steve McMillan wriggled through to bring a good save from the home keeper. With just a minute to go to half time a route one ball caught the Parmiterians defence out and the impressive Dan McEwan had his first shot saved but did not miss with the follow-up.

Nottsborough made a number of changes for the second half having brought a squad of 17. Dave Vaira and Tom Rocher were both on at full back whilst Greg Handelaar was on at centre-back for Mitic, whilst Matt Nimmo completed a completely different back four. In midfield newcomer Paddy Buck was having a good first run-out. The final two changes were Ralf Goad on at right midfield, and George Bowman on up-front.

The latter did well to set up Ben Hughes for the second goal and moments later Bowman hit a post from close range. Parmiterians got back into the game when the ref rather harshly penalised Vaira for a foul and the home centre forward thumped the ball into the corner to make it 1-2. After this the home side rather blew out and, with Matt Kerr and Dave Howson back on, the away side made the scoreline look a little unfair in the last 15 minutes as Ben Hughes smashed home another and finally Matt Kerr held off a persistent challenge to complete the scoring.

White; Webb, Mitic, Sutcliffe, Cullinan; Buck, Kerr M, Howson, McMillan; Hughes, McEwan.

Second half White; Vaira, Nimmo, Handelaar, Rocher; Goad, Buck, McMillan, Cullinan; Hughes, Bowman