A tough Thursday night trip down to the Coast started our season against Last Season's Plate Finalists and established Division 2 side Saltdean.

After a Convincing win on Sunday, the boys had a quick turn around to their first midweek game and also their first League game of the season. Saltdean had a good win in the league on sunday and you could tell they were up for the game right from the start as they tried to take the game to us.

A few changes to the lineup and squad due to availability meant Cam moved into the cb position with Toby, Ethan came in at RB and Freddie H came in for Oliver in Goal.

A slow start from both teams as they were trying to get an understanding and figure out how each other played. After about 10 minutes the game started to open up a bit meaning chances for both sides. Saltdean were getting joy with balls over the top but we were dealing with them quite well. Freddie was quick off his line and Cam and Toby were winning a lot of high balls and getting stuck in with their tackles.

Sam, Kieron and Dorian were getting a lot of joy down the right hand side, linking up well and creating chances thick and fast with Sam hitting the post twice and the Saltdean Goalkeeper pulling off several worldie saves!

The first goal came for us around the 17 minute mark and came from some good defending on the right side by Ethan who won a throw in. Cam took a long throw up the pitch and after some pinball in the air, Sam won the ball and laid it into Jack's path. Jack took a touch and played it into Big D who beat his man and sent a great through ball into the path of Kieron who beat his man for pace and with his touch, knocked it under the onrushing keeper and tapped it in to an empty net to put us 1-0 up.

After taking the lead, this seemed to take a bit of panic off of the boys shoulders and they started to get control of the game and this is when our defence and Midfield stepped up and started getting the ball down and playing some really good football. Stan came in to give Lewis W a breather and Lewis B came on to give Ethan a rest. They both battled well to keep us on the front foot and Cam was having a blinder in CB winning a lot of his challenges and a lot of headers. Freddie was coming off his line quick and pulled off a few great saves to keep us ahead. Dean on the left was battling hard and winning his one on ones as usual!

Less than 5 minutes later we got our next goal and this time it came from the other side. Stephen got the ball off of Dean and beat his man before the Saltdean Cm came across and put in a strong challenge, knocking the ball out of play. Thinking quickly, Stephen took a quick throw over to Sam, who won the ball before dribbling past 3 players brilliantly and getting to the byline before cutting it back into Kieron. Kier took a fantastic shot from close range only to be met by another world class save from the keeper onto the post, only for it to bounce back to the feet of Kieron who slammed it home to make sure! 2-0

The boys saw out the rest of the half with some really strong defending and running from our forwards.

HT - SALTDEAN - 0 - TD - 2

At the half we had a few boys need to come off due to knocks and tightness so we had to make a few changes and get the boys to calm down and get a hold of the game again.
Mase came on for Dorian, Switching wings with Stephen, Alafy came on for Sam and Lewis W back in for Stan. The boys were straight into the second half and were doing extremely well dealing with the Saltdean attack.
Lewis and Jack battled hard in the middle and Lewis B was doing really well defending the tricky left winger.
Cam and Toby had built a good relationship in the CB roles and were winning a lot of high balls and tracking back to cut out the over the top balls.
Alafy came on and was working well with Kieron and Mase down the left, with his direct running and power causing issues for the Saltdean back line. Mase was playing in some great balls behind for Alafy and Kieron to run onto.

Jack unfortunately got injured in a tough challenge and had to come off so Sam came on to fill in the CM spot. It was from Sam winning the ball in midfield and sending Alafy through 1 on 1 with the keeper the next goal came from.

Alafy beat his man and hit a strong left footed shot towards goal, only for the goalie to pull off another worldie! This time the ball went out for a corner.
Lewis W stepped up and whipped in a fantastic ball into the near post for it to be met brilliantly by Alafy with a back heel flick into the far post beating the keeper and defender on the line! 3-0

It was this point that Saltdean changed it up and started throwing everything at us, trying to get a goal back and getting their foot in the game.

Now we have always been strong at defending but did have a habit of sometimes losing the odd goal near the end, however the boys have been focused on keeping that clean sheet. Cam, Toby, Lewis B , Dean and Freddie H all stepped up to keep it tight at the back and even with 10 left, we made changes and bought Ethan back in and Freddie O up front for Kieron, the boys were still controlling the game and creating chances before seeing out the game!

FT - Saltdean - 0 - TD - 3

A fantastic start to the season against a strong side, with Saltdean's goalkeeper pulling off a minimum of 6 worldies to keep the game close.

MOTM- CAM SHAW - A commanding and confident display from Cam, Stepping into the CB role on short notice and doing a great job back there being vocal and helping us get another clean sheet.