Pre Season Friendly, Wednesday 2nd July
Well, football is back (already!!!) and my first game prior to the 2025/26 season saw me over at New Lodge, Billericay, as Hutton, who play in the Thurlow Nunn South Division, welcomed Essex Senior League side Saffron Walden Town to a sunny South Essex as both sides began their build up to the new season which gets under in three weeks time, or thereabouts anyway.
Hutton are beginning their first season for some time without Matt Singh at the helm, he and his management team stepped down at the end of last season after they were beaten soundly in their play off semi final against Hackney Wick, and they have brought in ex AS London boss Franco Zabotti, he took AS London to the play offs last season before they suffered a surprising heavy defeat at Rayleigh Town, but Hutton have got a good manager there for sure.
No doubt their would be some personal changes within the hosts squad for the coming season, as for Walden they definitely had quite a few changes after I was advised that they had only retained five or six players from last season so it appears they are starting afresh shall we say in an aim to try and get themselves back in the promotion shake up for this campaign, they had brought a squad of twenty two players to New Lodge, basically one team per half, to see what they had no doubt.
The first half certainly belonged to Hutton who looked the sharper of the two sides, and it was no surprise when they eventually grabbed the lead eleven minutes before the break when a ball bounced around inside the box before eventually somebody decided to fire it beyond the keeper into the net, meaning Hutton held a slender 1-0 advantage heading into the half time break.
Walden, as expected, changed pretty much their entire eleven for the second half, and that eleven certainly caused Hutton a lot more issues shall we say, and with around fifteen minutes remaining levelled from the penalty spot after a foul inside the box, momentum seemed all with the visitors by this stage but it was Hutton who would score what proved to be the winner.
That came with nine minutes remaining when they burst into the box and saw a lovely finish across the keeper into the far corner, and that was enough for Hutton to record victory and hand Zabotti his first win at his new club, no doubt many more to come throughout the season, Walden will no doubt continue to shape a squad from what they have right now, that's what pre season is all about.
Anyway a decent first game for my new season, it's good to be back!!!
Full time Hutton 2 Saffron Walden Town 1
