Squad: Brownbridge, Rixy, Gav, Paddy, Joff, Tim, Norm, Rafa, Jason, Brad, Gibbo, Chris, Ted, Jordie.

On a fine summer evening, Easton kicked off their last friendly against St Andrews Reserves up at Anglian Windows. The rain earlier in the day had helped soften the ground up a touch however the pitch was absolutely dreadful to try and play any football on due to the lumps and bumps.

St Andrews had the better start and got used to the state of the pitch far quicker. Within 15 minutes they had a penalty after Paddy, making his debut, made a bit of a clumsy challenge. The Thorpe midfielder stepped up however another fine save from Brownbridge diving to his left saw him paw the ball round the post to safety. Easton started to wake up a bit after that scare and had the ball in the back of the net after some great play. Gibbo squared the ball and Tim running onto it from behind Gibbo slotted it home into a empty net. With everyone trooping back to the halfway line the linesman decided that it was offside and after a lengthy discussion the goal was chalked off to the amazement of not only the Easton players but also all of the Thorpe players. Quite why I still do not know and I suggest that the lino takes a look at the rulebook before the season starts to clarify what does and doesn’t constitute an offside. Anyway, Easton played on and went close again when Chris Moore hit the bar and Rixy followed up and smashed the ball against the post. There was still time in the 1st half for Tim to hit the bar with a curling freekick however that then bounced to safety. Easton were creating the better chances however Thorpe were still well in the game and were probably still the better team at half time.

Second half kicked off and Easton started to take control of the game a bit more. Chris Moore was having some luck down the left but just wasn’t able to find that clinical final ball. Gav missed a 2nd open goal in the space of less than a week when another Tim put a corner right on his head 2 yds out. He managed to hit the post with this one so getting closer . Other than that the game pretty much petered out with both sides starting to tire.

So with the pre-season down, Eddie will be concerned that we haven’t yet scored however will be pleased with the way that we’ve played. At times, we’ve played some wonderful passing football however we’re just lacking someone to get on the end of the chances. Also good to see the new faces around the club. Jason, Paddy and Nick have all played well and will help to give us that bit more strength in depth when the season kicks off proper. First league match is on 17th August against East Harling at home.