Apparently, there’s some sort of tournament going on in the States at the moment, and I gather it’s drawing a fair bit of interest. However, tonight, the eyes of discerning fans of the green and white persuasion were all on SM5 as the title-winning Tanners got their pre-season campaign under way. Not strictly true – that happened on Saturday at Epsom and Ewell, Tanners running out 3-0 winners – but it was behind closed doors. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound…?
After a short air-conditioned train ride, it’s barely a five-minute walk to the ground, and she’s a beauty. I haven’t visited Colston Avenue before, and I’m impressed. There are covered stands on all sides, with a full-length terrace along the far touchline. If there’s a negative, it’s that there’s no scoreboard (I do like a scoreboard), but very much on the plus side is the air-conditioned clubhouse with its friendly and efficient service, and a decent range of beers. A few pints of Camden Pale Ale were duly sampled, purely in the interests of research you understand…
The Tanners took to the pitch with mostly familiar faces on view, but intriguingly, the starting line-up also included Trialists A, B and C. I remember our pre-season friendly against Merstham last summer – their entire squad that night was made up of trialists. I wonder if they actually retained any of them…?
I know we’re always told not to put too much emphasis on friendlies. They’re all about ‘getting minutes in the lads’ legs’, building understanding between new teammates, etc. All that said, even at this earliest of stages, I’m going to go out on a limb and say this about one of the new faces… If you liked Jordy Gallagher, you’re gonna love Harry Murphy. ‘H’ very much caught the eye, drawing a smart save from the keeper on ten minutes with a goal bound free kick. He should also have been awarded a penalty on the stroke of halftime. Having done a fine job of keeping an awkward bouncing ball in play on the left touchline, he took it between two defenders then slalomed into the box, skinning the full back. Said full back’s reaction was to take H’s feet out from under him. A stonewaller, but for whatever reason, the officials didn’t agree…
Between times though, we suffered the indignity of going a goal behind. Tanners had already registered a handful of chances in the preceding twenty minutes – the ‘H’ freekick, a speculative shot over the bar from Isaac after an energetic cross-field run, and a Jacob shot that was well saved after a sustained period of pressure. However, as we are occasionally wont to do in those situations, we fell to the sucker punch, and in fairness, the SCR man took his goal well – a low curled effort just inside Sonny’s right post.
The half continued in much the same fashion. Tanners had plenty of moments, with Trialist C stinging the keeper’s palms, and James’ strong run ending with a pass that couldn’t quite find Jacob in the middle. SCR again reminded us they were there – their number 8 curling a free kick just over the bar on forty minutes – but the half finished with Anas in particular starting to probe holes in the defence, and of course, that penalty shout.
Halftime – SCR 1, Tanners 0.
Ian Selley swapped out a good chunk of the team for the second half. Another round of familiar faces come on, along with a further couple of new ones. It was good to see Marcel back – on for Jacob, he made himself busy throughout, and he went close on fifty minutes. After a strong run and pass from Mark, he shot firmly at goal, but it was blocked. A couple of minutes later, he was involved in the Tanners’ equaliser, working the scoring opportunity with Kofi Anokye-Boadi, the ball making its way across goal for H to chest in at the far post.
The home side offered very little in the second half, one of only two chances of note being an acrobatic scissor kick (is there any other kind?) on sixty minutes. Beyond that, the travelling Tanners’ support settled in to watch their side rack up the chances, and the new boys continued to impress. H was dong bits, Joe Jackson looked neat and tidy, and Kofi looks like he could also become a firm fan favourite. Talking of fan favourites, Nathan Hogan really started to come into the game as the final twenty minutes ticked around. A poor goal kick presented him with a one-on-one, but the keeper atoned for his error, pulling off a decent save from last season’s Golden Boot winner and Fans’ Player of the Season.
Trialist A almost profited from Nathan’s industry on seventy-five minutes. Having kept the ball in on the left, Nathan picked out the number 21, but his shot was straight at the keeper. The same player then hit the post after Nathan’s delicate touch through. On another day, he might have had a hattrick – let’s see if he gets another run out.
For all Tanners’ pressure, it looked like it was heading for a draw, and possibly less, as SCR hit the bar with five minutes to go. In the event though, we got the second goal the broad pattern of play deserved. A couple of minutes before the end, Kofi capped off a great personal performance with the winner, striking it firmly into the bottom corner after Nathan’s lay off.
Fulltime – SCR 1, Tanners 2.
It’s fair to assume that Dorking on Saturday will be a sterner test, but equally, they shouldn’t take us lightly. We’re a different proposition to the team that went down 5-1 at their place last summer. We’ve retained the title-winning management team and the majority of the squad, and on tonight’s showing, we’ve also added quality. And that’s before the twelfth man pipes up – The Grove should be rocking for this one. See you Saturday – COYT!
David Bryant
