The 2nd friendly of the season finished in a 5-1 defeat which looked very harsh on us. This was a much closer game than the scoreline suggests.
The team was picked by James Attwood due to Russell being out of the country. James and Shrimpy Junior were unavailable and the team was named as the following:
Shrimpy Snr, Kevin, Murph, Nick, Declan, Connell, Hatty, Gaz, Geoghegan, Kenny Lee, Adjei, Subs: Ronan (for Hatty 2nd), Goode (for Adjei HT), Ston (for Geoghegan 2nd)
The Thorns started with Murph at centre half with Gaz moving into the centre midfield along with Hatty who was replaced up front by Kenny Lee who was making his first appearence for the club and Adjei who replaced Goode. I replaced James at right back who was not available and Geoghegan moved to left midfield to replace Shrimpy Junior who was on holiday with James and Russell.
The first half was an evenly matched contest. Hatty came close with a free kick which was the Thorns best chance of the half. Castlehurst scored 2 goals before half time, one mid way through the half and the other just before half time.
At half time Goode came on for Adjei. The 2nd half also started with us having much of the play. During the 2nd half Atty made 2 more changes bringing on Ston and Ronan and taking off Geoghegan and Hatty. Ston was put on the left of midfield and Ronan centre midfield. The change was inspirational as with Ronan not long being on the pitch picked the ball up in midfield taking it round a grounded player and put through Kenny Lee with a defense splitting pass. The defended could not get to the ball, Kenny Lee ran onto the ball and slotted home the Thorn's first ever goal with a good finish.
At this point we were on top and nearly equalised. After much pressure Castlehurst broke to make their victory safe with a third and put a harsh look on the scoreline with 2 more late goals to make it 5-1.
The next game for the Thorns is on Thursday and is the last friendly before Sunday's league opener against Cobham Eagle Reserves. James and Shrimpy Junior will be back for Thursday's friendly as will manager Russell.