Thursday 17th July 2008 pre season friendly

VERWOOD TOWN v CHRISTCHURCH (played at Heathlands)

Manager Graham Kemp selected a large squad for the first game of the 2008/2009 season. Several new faces appeared in blue shirts who lined up like this:

1 Jason Collins
2 Danny Jones
3 Dan Taylor
4 John Blake
5 Dan Crutchley (capt)
6 John Brock
7 Mark Smith
8 James Burden
9 Gareth Barnes
10 Marc Burrows
11 Paul Rideout

12 Russell Cooke
14 Chris Dillon
15 Steve Linpow
16 Harry Rolph
17 Paul Manning
18 Simon Keates
19 Martin Lawrence
GK Joe Promodo

Débutantes for Christchurch were Danny Jones, John Blake, John Brock, Mark Smith and Simon Keates. Gareth Barnes made his second debut for Christchurch 14 years after his original debut. Welcome back Gareth. Youth team goalie Joe Promodo appeared for the first team for the first time.

Christchurch took time to settle on the poor surface and went behind in the first 5 minutes when a corner for Verwood found an unmarked player who had no trouble finding the back of the Christchurch net with a good header. Christchurch tended to hang onto the ball too long but when they passed it around the chances were created. Paul Rideout had several opportunities to equalised but failed to capitalise and the nearest that Christchurch came to scoring was when Mark Smith hit the post late in the first half.

Half time: Verwood Town 1 Christchurch 0

The second half saw Christchurch come out with pace and determination and 5 minutes after the restart a Mark Smith shot was parried by the keeper into the path of Marc Burrows who instantly returned the ball into the corner of the net. This equaliser prompted manager Graham Kemp to ring the changes and most of the substitutes were used at this time. Christchurch suddenly clicked and some of the football played was extremely pleasing to watch. It was all one way now and Russell Cooke put Christchurch in the lead with a smart right foot finish. As the usual pre season substitutions came and went Cooke repeated his earlier action to score with another good finish.

Final score: Verwood Town 1 Christchurch 3

A good run out for Christchurch where some of the new boys showed just what we can expect during the season. Bring it on!

The Bridgeman