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Once more unto the breach… The Football pre-season is underway. Wingate & Finchley’s first friendly match against Welwyn Garden City took place on Saturday under a scorching sun. The game was played on the artificial turf of the training ground at Barnet Lane and even the short period of the warm-up saw players complaining about burning feet. Normally players hate being on the bench but in that heat, the subs bench was a welcome respite. The issue is the heat that gets into the rubber granules that are there to make the artificial grass behave a little more like the real thing. But modern playing boots made out of synthetic materials probably don’t give much protection either 😦

I was pleased to see that almost all of the squad from last season have been retained. Only Claudio, Alfie Young and Steve Wales have moved on – Walesey has gone to local rivals Enfield Town so there will be some good natured Banter when they come to visit 🙂 There have been a couple of new signings and one or two of the youth team look to be about to break into the First Team squad. Almost all the team looked sharp in this first game, which was highlighted by the Welwyn number 17 who was definitely a little off the pace and got a yellow card for persistent fouling. None of it looked malicious; just late!

The end result was 4-1 to the home side but 2-1 would probably have been a fairer result. There was a wonder goal by Reynolds into the top corner from 30yds – one to watch rather than photograph! You can’t legislate or defend against those! And then there was the penalty. Got to feel sorry for Jack Metcalfe when the referee adjudged that he had brought down Obafemi in the box. Jack is an ex-Wingate player and much loved as a friend so a bit of banter was in order this morning 😉

What the Referee saw…

What really happened…

So there we go – a first match report for the season. For the record, we are now playing in the Bostik League – Change of league sponsor. And, I’m hoping to provide more regular football coverage on my blog now that I will have a bit more time 🙂 Don’t worry – I also intend to keep up the non-football bits too!