Post by Dave on Jul 22, 2023 18:02:38 GMT
Match Referee The One & Only Sam Gill
Final Score Watcombe Wanderers 3 Chudleigh Athletic 2
Match preview
As soon as any season finishes clubs start preparing for the next one. A time to say goodbye to some players while welcoming news ones to the club. I have always felt preseason games results are not really that important and seldom give any indication of how well a team will do in the new season. But the games do help to bed in new players, try out new things and help players get back to match fitness.
The Watcombe Wanderers first team were unbeatable in division two of the South Devon Football League. They did lose a few games at the end of the season, but by then there were already crowned as the division champions and I think they just took their foot of the gas a bit.
The big question is how well will the team do this season playing in division one? It goes without saying that having three clubs who have just left the Devon league put into division one, it is going to be harder for many teams than it might have been.
Both Paignton Saints and Newton Abbot Spurs 2nd are expected to be right up there challenging for the title, I personally do not think the Buckland Athletic 2nds will pose the same threat. Watcombe last season were a strong physical side capable of playing some very good football and they will give any team they face a very tough challenge this season.
Chudleigh Athletic has a new management team in place for this season; John Fleet, Rich Lake and Paul Luscombe have taken over and will be looking to get the team as completive as possible.
Last season I covered one of their home games played on the 24th December. In my report I stated that during the first half Chudleigh looked a decent side, but in the end on the day Watts Blake & Bearne were in top form and ended up winning the game by six goals to nil. Interesting at the end of the season Chudleigh ended up finishing just one place behind W.B.B. in the league table.
It is going to be a busy day at Long lane today with three preseason games taking place, weather forecast not very promising but fingers crossed they have got it wrong again.
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Match report
What a horrible wet and windy day and I got drench to the skin. It’s the worst possible weather to try and produce match photos but on the whole I am happy with the ones I took. But due to the constant rain and strong wind I was unable to take notes so my report will not be as detailed as I would have liked.
You would have been hard pressed to believe you were watching a preseason friendly if you were there today, it felt more like a cup final, both sides put so much effort into the game and it was a cracking game to watch. Plenty of sliding tackles and plenty of good football played by both sides despite the conditions.
It is always worth taking on the battle of Long Lane in my car, I know I will always receive a warm welcome from the club when I finally get past the last sink hole in the lane. I would like to thank both team managers for filling out a team sheet today for me, it is something that is greatly appreciated by me.
Watcombe made a strong start to the game and won three early corners, but they all came to nothing. At this stage of the match I thought it would be Watcombe who got the first goal, but that did not turn out to be the case.
In fact they ended up gifting Chudleigh the lead when Elliot Mcintosh looked to play the ball back to his keeper. As he turned he clearly did not realise the keeper was closer to him that he thought and well off his line. As a result he hit the ball far too powerfully and the ball hit the keeper’s legs and came out to Gav Lane. He had the simplest of tasks firing the ball into the unguarded net.
While the game was being played at a fast pace, there were very few goal scoring opportunities for the remainder of the fist half and it ended with Chudleigh leading by the single goal. Both sets of players made their way back to the dressing room while little old Dave took shelter in one of the dugouts.
The second half got underway and Watcombes Jacob Knapman hit a fine twenty yard shot over the crossbar. Charlie Uniacke was played into the left hand side of the Chudleigh box and played the ball low across the keeper into the back of the net, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
But Watcombe soon afterwards were back on level terms thanks to a goal scored by Sam Pane. The question was could they find a second goal and take the lead for the first time in the match?
Well the answer was no and what a wonderful goal Jo Porter scored to restore the lead for his team. We was a very long way out and noticed the Watcombe keeper was off his line, he played the most exquisite chip over the keeper into the back of the net.
Watcombe were working hard to once again get back onto level terms and did not have to wait to long for that to happen. They won a corner that was fired high into the Chudleigh box and Toby Woodmore got on the end of the cross and headed the ball home.
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I thought a draw would have been a fair result and that was how I expected the game to end. But Watcombe scored again and it was a goal that really would have pleased Elliot Mcintosh. After his over hit back pass that gave Chudleigh their first goal, his goal won the match for his team. A first time shot from inside the box that went in by the left hand post.
It is incredible to think this time last season I was covering preseason games played on rock hard yellow pitches burnt by the sun. As I said horrible conditions today, but the pitch looked lovely and held up very well and was about to have another game played on it after this game.
My original plan was to stay and take some photos of the other games taking place at Long Lane, but I really was soaked to the skin and wanted to get home and get some dry closes on.
I do feel both clubs should do well this season, I will do my best to cover at least one of the games as the season progresses.
