Pre Season Friendly, Saturday 22nd August 2020
My latest preseason outing took me over to the outskirts of
Ilford for a first look at the new facility at The Drive for Thurlow Nunn Eastern
Senior South Frenford’s first game back there since the upgrade as they hosted Isthmian
North side Coggeshall Town.
First of all, many thanks to Wayne Seal for the lift there
and back, was very much appreciated, I hope you enjoyed the company and it was
good to see you once again!!!
Secondly many thanks to Forbesy and the Frenford committee
for their excellent hospitality today, enjoyed the day and the two beers in the
bar afterwards, as well as the free entry too, it really is appreciated!!!
Arrived at 1pm and took my first look at the new 3G facility
and it is very smart it has to be said, also had my temperature taken too and luckily
for me it was 35.2 so that is good so I was allowed to stay!!! They have got all the correct procedures in
place too with arrows and signs about to let you know what you must and must not
do, hand sanitiser around the ground too as well as a way in and out of the
cage, so full marks to the club for making the necessary preparations.
Now Frenford were probably one of those sides who definitely
wanted the season to end early last time out having suffered a terrible run of
form after new year which saw them slip from the top four down to 13th,
this was down to a mixture of loss of confidence and personal in the squad, so
it was a season they were happy to have null and voided must likely.
They have assembled a good squad for this campaign with
plenty of new faces, so this pre-season will be useful for them to gel as a
team and hopefully for their sake see a decent campaign in 20/21, and they have
picked some tough tests in pre-season for sure as today’s visitors Coggeshall
Town play two steps higher in the pyramid and have signed some decent players
with a decent budget to go with it too, so they will surely be up there in the
league this campaign.
The signs looked ominous for the hosts early on when
Coggeshall grabbed a fifth minute lead when a ball in from the left saw it
controlled before a finish across the keeper into the far corner, and after
more visiting attacks they did double their lead in the 21st minute although
Frenford weren’t too happy about it as a ball through saw the flag go up, but
another attacker ran onto the pass and the referee let play go and saw the slot
home.
In my view it was the correct call from the referee as the
player who eventually ran onto the pass was coming from an onside position and
the one flagged offside didn’t touch the ball so I felt he got it correct, but
Frenford were questioning the decision and were none to pleased about it.
The visitors continued their first half dominance and added
another ten minutes before half time when a ball in from the right found a
attacker who took and touch and sent a lovely finish beyond the keeper and into
the corner of the net.
You could really see the gulf in class in the first period,
Coggeshall were a yard quicker in all departments and had that professional attitude
too and Frenford probably gave them a bit to much respect at times but were
being totally outclassed and they were probably pleased to hear the half time
whistle and only find themselves three goals down.
Half Time Frenford 0 Coggeshall Town 3
After a ten or so minute half time it didn’t take long for
Coggeshall to add a fourth as barely a minute into it they won a free kick
right on the edge of the box and this was rifled into the top corner of the net
through the keepers grasp, their was so much pace on it that he had barely any
time to react, and it was four.
You did feel a bit concerned at how many Coggeshall would
net, but after both sides made some changes the hosts to their credit did mount
some attacks and eventually forced the visiting keeper into some action by
making him pull off a pretty good save to his right to keep out a decent effort
after good build up play.
Normal service was resumed though in the 64th
minute when another ball in behind the defence saw the offside trap broken once
again and a nice finish into the far corner beyond the outcoming keeper and it
was now five for the visiting side.
Coggeshall again had more chances to add further goals but
Frenford again to their credit were improved second half and came so close to
netting a consolation goal when a header was superbly tipped onto the bar, but
they will take much from this game despite the scoreline.
As I said to Forbesy and Wayno and a few others afterwards
you learn a lot more from games like this than you would if you were playing sides
below you and winning easily, so this was a positive for them to take, their
certainly seems a brilliant team spirit there and that can only help matters.
For Coggeshall they showed their class today and played some
decent stuff which was way too good for the home side, as you would expect, and
this side will certainly do well in the Isthmian North this season no doubt.
Full Time Frenford 0 Coggeshall Town 5
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