Football was finally back as Chiseldon’s first pre-season friendly saw us take on FC Dorcan who had a decent finish in the premier division last season.

 

With a large squad of players available, it was last seasons regulars who started the game all of whom had a point to prove to the new manager after last seasons final league standings.

 

There was only one new face to start the game for Chiseldon but there were a number of other new signings sat on the sidelines all waiting to make their debuts for the club.

 

It was Dorcan who had the better of the opening few minutes and they got into a number of good attacking positions, but some solid defending from Chiseldon saw off their efforts.

 

Chiseldon weren’t without threat though and they came close to opening the scoring in the 10th minute after an excellent cross was met by a good header which went just side.

 

After this Chisedon began to settle down a bit and collectively Chiseldon were defending well and with a high tempo and work rate. Going forward the Chiseldon wide men had their moments getting behind the Dorcan defence, which was good to see but Chiseldon didn’t quite capitalise on the situations.

 

Dorcan kept up their attacking threat and missed a golden opportunity to take the lead after a good moved resulted in a low short at goal but was met by a great save from the Chiseldon keeper.

 

The deadlock was broken on 30 minutes after some great pressing in the middle of the park saw them steal the ball and play the ball out to the winger. A deep cross was met with a header which found the top corner.

 

Taking the lead seemed to give Chiseldon a bit more confidence and defensively it gave us something to ‘defend’.

 

Dorcan had a few more efforts before half time, but failed to take advantage and the score remained 1-0 to Chissy at half time. Half time saw 3 changes for Chiseldon. Fresh legs in midfield, and added pace in attack now gave Chisledon a different threat.

 

The next goal was going to be crucial and it went the way of Chiseldon. A good ball into the channel gave the Chiseldon striker something to chase. His hard work and persistence in hounding down the defender and winning the ball back then saw him round the keeper and tuck home into an empty net. Brilliant work from the young striker.

 

Dorcan were still looking to attack whenever they could and managed to peg Chiseldon back but struggled to break down a dogged defence.

 

This pressure began to pay off as Dorcan pulled a goal back after Chiseldon gave possession away too easily, they found their way forward with a long ball into the channel, which resulted in a tackle from behind by the Chiseldon centre back and a penalty kick to Dorcan was rightly awarded. They scored to make it 2-1 with around 7 minutes of the game left.

Dorcan pushed for the equaliser and it looked like they got it, but the Chiseldon keeper added to his 3 or 4 saves already with a world class piece of keeping diving full stretch to his right to keep out a well struck volley. A save worthy of winning any game and that’s what happened.

 
A close game all round, but Chiseldon just edged it 2-1