First Game of the season: Preview

Sunday is the first game of the league campaign and the year Seabridge prove they are a team to be reckoned with, though you would be correct in thinking otherwise as the pre-season matches have shown a depleted and exacerbated Seabridge.
After a good 1-1 Draw with Britannia in which the Seabridge were unlucky not to win and fielding a strong squad of 22 players, hopes were high.
A second fixture against Redgate First team, who are far superior to us ended in a 5-0 defeat, but not to be too disheartened.
Then a great 3-1 victory against last season rivals Sealion, revenge was sweet though we did notice far less numbers than previously, the rot soon sets in and a embarrassing 5-0 defeat to Loggerheads with only just scraping 11 players together.
Next was AFC Clayton, and another poor turn out and heavy defeat losing 7-2, and once again only fielding 11 players.
Final fixture against fellow league team London Road Tavern and once again only 11 players and another heavy 5-0 defeat.

Friendly Results as follows:

Britannia 1 - 1 Beaman, P
Redgate 5 – 0
Sealion 1 – 3 Smith, Martin, Cooke
Loggerheads 5 – 0
AFC Clayton 7 – 2 Frasier ×2
London Road Tavern 5 – 0

So as you can see not very good!

Five players have also left the team over the pre-season leaving the Seabridge with a modest squad of roughly 16 players. If all these 16 turn up Sunday we would have a good team, but I can’t see it happening.

Injury list:
Beaman, P – Knee Damage return unknown
Smith – Ankle Sprain Return 1 to 2 Weeks
Nixon, G – Thigh Strain Return 1 to 2 Weeks

So first game against recently relegated New Inn should be an interesting encounter;
Predicted Squad:
Cooke – GK

Cooper – RB
Bailey – LB
Ray – CB
Nathan ? – CB

Turner – CM
Orpe – CM
Riley – LM
Joseph – RM

Frasier – FW
Thursfield – FW

Predicted score: 3-1 win to the Seabridge
Also the start of the fantasy football…

Seabridge Exodus

An mass Exodus of 5 players have left the club this pre-season, as management watch on worryingly about the future of the club.
Shaun James left Seabridge for League rivals Smithfield FC;
Ian Rushton, Gavin Sidebotham and Ian Martin all left for an unknown club; though they reassure us that it’s not a team in our league;
Dom Brereton (promising young talent) has left to join fellow local team AFC Clayton of Ansels League, who also snatched previous players Jim Hillman and Roy Preston from us last season.

Luckily we have a few new faces joining for the upcoming season:
Brother’s Carl and Paul Beaman join, Paul previous playing at a high Saturday league standard;
Kev Orpe who is current working under “Her Majesties Service” and seems a very useful and fit player;
Wilson and Beech have joined from Goldenhill WMC, Wilson looks useful but Beech is just a benchwarmer;
Ryan Frasier who also played Saturday league standard has joined and score two goals in his first friendly for the club which looks positive;

With the last friendly this Sunday against London Road Tavern, who the pundits state we really should beat, we need a good win. This should boost morale and give us much needed edge in the first game of the season.

Predicted Lineup for Sundays Game:

Goal Keeper – Cooke
Full Back – Cooper
Full Back – Wilson
Centre Back – Bird
Centre Back – Nathan ?
Side Midfield - Beaman, C
Side Midfield – Riley
Centre Midfield – Orpe
Centre Midfield – Turner
Forward – Beaman, P
Forward – Frasier

Predicted score 4-1 win to the Seabridge…we can only wait and see…

First Friendly of the campaign

Venue: Knutton Rec
Kick Off: 11:00am

Britannia FC 1 Seabridge FC 1
Paul Beaman 61”

A good first game, Seabridge had the better of the chances but went a goal down just after half time. Paul Beaman then equalized as his corner kick curled right past the keeper and into the net. Thursfield also missed an almost unbelievable chance as he hit a ball over the bar from 5 yards out. Rushton also hit a one-on-one straight at the keeper, and P. Beaman managed to beat 3 men and hit a shot right into the keepers arms.
Fair result would have been 5 – 2 to the Seabridge.

1st half team
Cooke 6 didn’t have much to do.
Ray 6 Fairly consistent
Bailey 6 Fairly consistent
Cooper 6 Good tackling but lack of concentration meant miss-controlling the ball.
Brereton 6 Good passing and helped with defending duties
Smith 6 Showed good passing at times
Turner 6 Battled well in the middle of the park
Martin 6 Worked hard but lacked technique to make the most of his time on the ball
Rushton 6 Ran constantly up and down the wing.
Orpe 6 Missed a sitter but showed good potential with the ball
Thursfield 5 Hit one over the bar from 3 yards out.

2nd Half Team
Fletcher 7 Shaky start, but kept the team in the game with some brilliant saves
G. Nixon 5 Good passes but speed let him down
Bird 6 Good interceptions and forward runs
Orpe 6 Missed a sitter but showed good potential with the ball
Beech 5 Slow and seemed very off the pace of the game
C. Beaman 5 Disappointing performance
Riley 7 Great runs with the ball, needs to pass a little earlier
Sidebotham 5 didn’t really do anything
Ryan ? 6 Good in the air and challenging for the ball
P. Beaman 7 Great goal and could of had another two, just needs a little improvement with fitness
Kerns 5 some good touches but very far of the pace. Needs to put a lot of effort into training

On the whole we were a lot fitter than them and it showed in the last 10 minutes where we could have had two or three goals.
On a personal note, not a great performance from me, I tackled and headed the ball well but, I kept on taking my eye of the ball which led to me spilling and miss-controlling the ball. Fitness wise I was fine, need to make sure that I concentrate better next game.
Man of the Match was second half keeper Fletcher, as he kept the Seabridge in the game with some top draw saves.
Next fixture is a game a against Redgate Clayton 1st Team, Wednesday 8th, this will be an extremely tough fixture as they are one of the best amateur Saturday league sides, I think it’s best just to try and practice the basics and forget the score line.

Fit as a Butchers Dog

I have really put the effort in this pre-season and I can say that I’m really in the best shape of my life. I have lost a lot of the excess weight that was weighting me down and now I have strengthened my legs and feel fast and stronger.
Also hopefully we have a few new faces coming into the team; five players should be gracing the Seabridge books this season, with only losing one player Shawn James, who has left to join league rival team Smithfield FC (Previously Wheatsheaf), which is no real shame as he was quite sh!t any way.
First friendly against Britannia this Sunday…If all the new players turn out for this game I can see a relative easy victory for us. Should be a good indicator to how we will fare this season. I’m really looking forward to this game also, as I want to see how well I can play when fully fit. Hoping that this will be the start off something good for me as a player, i know the season hasn’t started yet but I’m hoping for player of the season award. Also trying to keep a positive outlook with football and trying to encourage more that dishing out discouragement/frustration, and hopefully take the captains armband in a few seasons to come.

Possible Starting team for Sundays clash

Cooke – GK

Ray – CD
Cooper – CD
Brereton – CD

Smith – CM
Turner – CM
Kev ???(Don’t know last name) – CM
Joseph – RM
Rushton – LM

Beaman, P – FW
Thursfield - FW