Wednesday, 5 August 2020

Buckhurst Hill 8 Chingford Athletic 0

Pre Season Friendly, Wednesday 5th August 2020

Wednesday evening saw me over at Roding Lane for my third preseason game ahead of the 20/21 season and it saw Buckhurst Hill host Chingford Athletic in another all Essex Olympian Football League encounter.

On arrival the entrance had a note pad for you to write your name and contact number down for the track n trace system, and also some hand sanitizer for you to apply on arrival, and it was one way in and out for the clubhouse and toilets too, so this is well organised and again another example that clubs are doing things right regarding the guidelines, take note government and FA!!!

I also got to see the improvements made so far to the main pitch at Roding Lane, it has been turned round and there is a barrier all the way round, smart dugouts and a pitch that is coming along very nicely, looking good, and with floodlights and a stand to come, things are certainly being prepared for senior football in the future.

The game this evening wasn’t to be used for this game though as preparation of the main pitch was still ongoing, so they used one of their back pitches, and a healthy amount of people were there to watch, id say around 20 odd, although a lot were from the club I suspect, but still a nice turnout on another warm evening.

One of the Hill coaches who had been warming up the hosts keeper prior to the game came over to me and thanked me for all I did for the local game, and this meant a lot and makes you feel like you are doing some thing worthwhile, and Mark Williams, the Hill boss also came over and said hello and we had a chat before and during/after game as well.  These people really do make you feel welcome and are genuinely thankful for what you do, so that was nice and meant a lot too.

For Hill this was their first outing in pre-season, and this was for them the start of hopefully another successful campaign.  They were flying in the Premier Division last season before it was brought to a premature end, so they will hope another season like that will see them promoted into Senior Football at Step Six.

Chingford Athletic will be playing in Senior One this season and this would be their second pre season outing of 20/21, and they had seen off ESL side West Essex 1-0 at the weekend so came into this one with an extra ninety minutes under their belts.

The opening ten or so minutes saw the hosts on the back foot slightly as Chingford initially came out of the blocks quicker, maybe because they were one game further into their pre-season perhaps, and saw a huge penalty shout turned down early on, but it wasn’t long before Hill got into their stride and grabbed a 14th minute lead when a through ball was driven across goal and into the far corner.

Then came a purple patch for the hosts as they began a goalscoring spree of five goals in thirteen minutes!!!  They doubled their advantage midway through the half when great work down the left from Nathan Sollosi saw him drive into the box and square across goal for one of his team mates to tap home, and then five minutes later it was three as Nathan Sollosi turned goal scorer this time after hooking home from inside the box.

And barely a minute later it was 4-0 when Reece Tranter found the net, and then on the half hour mark it was five as it was becoming a procession as they poked home from close range, and incredibly it was 6-0 ten minutes before the break when brilliant play ended with Nathan Sollosi rifling home an unstoppable effort.

It had been a breath-taking spell of attacking football from the home side and some of their football was unreal at times, and Chingford were looking rather shell shocked by it all, but to be honest I feel most Senior sides in Step’s Five and Six would have struggled to cope with the Hill football that was on show.

Half Time Buckhurst Hill 6 Chingford Athletic 0

The second period saw much less in the way of attacking threat initially as both sides made some changes seeing as this was a pre-season warm up for the season which starts next month, but a big blow for the hosts came when Sam Sollosi went down clutching his hamstring after going on a decent run towards the visitors goal.

He was in considerable pain and was carried off the pitch by skipper Solly (one of the pictures below) and almost did himself an injury!!!  In all seriousness though it was quickly diagnosed that Sam had badly torn his hamstring so will miss the rest of pre-season at least, and probably the first month of the season, so that was a blow for him and his side. I wish him well in his recovery.

Solly returned to the pitch and added a seventh for his side after being encouraged to shoot by his teammates hit a long-range effort that bobbled beyond the keeper into the bottom corner in the 63rd minute.  Chingford had almost pulled a goal back prior to this but saw their effort hit the inside of the post and go across goal before being cleared away.  It was not their evening!!!

Hill then added an eighth with six minutes left when the brilliant Nathan Sollosi produced some neat skill before back flicking the ball into the path of a team mate who drilled a first time effort into the bottom corner, and it was yet another brilliant piece of play from the terrific hosts.

Chingford to their credit kept plugging away and had two of three decent effort towards the end of the contest to at least try and grab a goal for their troubles, but found the home keeper in good form and in no hurry to give up the clean sheet, and it meant the game ended 8-0 to the hosts.

Hill’s opening pre season run out could not have gone much better, apart from the injury to Sam Sollosi obviously, whilst for Chingford this is not the result they wanted but it’s minutes under their belt and they will not play many sides of this quality in the coming season that’s for sure.

Full Time Buckhurst Hill 8 Chingford Athletic 0














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