Casuals and Pelham FC 1 vs 5 SC Birchanger FC

Casuals and Pelham fell at a large 5-1 pre season defeat at the hands of SC Birchanger. Pelham without a goalkeeper and a lot of players playing out of position knew it would be a tough task against a team they will be competing with next season, and slightly against the run of play Pelham actually went in front. Some good work from Tim Shaw saw him work the ball to Jordan Knights, who played it round the corner for Jamie Richards to finish off, 1-0 to Pelham. However the home side could not hold on to the lead for too long, as a long range shot from Birchanger went in through the hands of Pelhams covering keeper and into the net, 1-1. With that equiliser Birchanger continued to push with Pelham digging in. It looked as though both teams would go into the break all level, however an unfortunate Adam Watts own goal just before the half meant that Birchanger went in to the half with the lead, 2-1. Pelham came firing out the blocks second half and were having their best spell of the game so far. However a bad injury to a Birchanger defender just before the hour mark saw the game stop for around 15 minutes and took the sting out of Pelhams momentum. Once the game restarted Pelham were caught cold and Birchanger against the run of play immediately scored to make it 3-1, kick in the teeth for Pelham. 3-1 became 4-1 with a direct free kick from the away side which probably should have been saved, and another avoidable goal would follow, making it 5-1 to Birchanger and killing off any Pelham hopes of getting something out the game, a humbling pre season defeat.