Friday, July 29, 2011

United’s latest pre-season match ended all square as they drew 3-3 with Erith Town this evening. The Kent League visitors to Claremont School were outplayed in the first forty-five minutes, and trailed 3-0 at the interval, but a spirited second half fight back got them back into the game.

It took just sixteen minutes for the U's to open the scoring, Kenny Pogue firing home from close range. Such was United’s dominance that more goals always looked likely and Jonno Melia made it 2-0 on twenty-two minutes, with Pogue adding a third six minutes before the break.

In the second period, Jason Hopkinson made numerous substitutions, and play became disjointed, especially in defence, where only the experience of Sean Ray kept the visitors at bay at times. Erith reduced the deficit on forty-nine minutes, added a second twelve minutes later, and levelled things up with seven minutes remaining, before almost snatching an unlikely victory in the closing moments.

Hopkinson tried two goalkeepers in his efforts to find a replacement for the unavailable Josh Willis, Tom Godfrey donning the gloves in the first half, and Joe Winchester taking over in the second.

United starting line-up: 1 Tom Godfrey, 2 Jack Dixon, 3 Dan Bolwell, 4 Scott Manning, 5 Sean Ray (c), 6 Sam Henham, 7 Jonno Melia, 8 Brett Patten, 9 Kenny Pogue, 10 Ben Billings, 11 Mark West.

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