MATCH REPORT: CRYSTAL PALACE 3 VALENCIA CF 1 – PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY

Tags

Friendly, Palace, Valencia

Crystal Palace XI: Hennessey, (Speroni,71) Ward,(Wynter,78) Dann, Delaney, (Croll,78) Souare,(Kelly,58) Jedinak,(Boateng,89) Puncheon,(Kaikai,71)Zaha,(Dreher,63) Bolasie,(Lee,46) Townsend,(Williams,63) Wickham (Anderson,63)

Valencia XI: Ryan,Cancelo,(Montoya,38) Santos,(Abdenour,63)Orban,Lato,Perez,Medran,(Rafa Mir,58) Soler,Fede,(Nani,45 Bakkali,79) Alcacer,(Eugeni,58) Mina

As the Football League began in earnest this weekend, Premier League sides entered their last round of friendlies before the big kick off for them next weekend. I decided to go and watch Crystal Palace take on Spanish giants Valencia at nicely warm Selhurst Park.

Both sides fielded fairly strong but not full strength sides with Palace missing 3 key players in Yohan Cabaye and summer signings Steve Mandanda and James Tomkins while Valencia rotated and left a number of first teamers on the bench.

The game began and Palace immediately took control with Andros Townsend particularly looking dangerous, getting past Valencia’s left back twice inside the first 60 seconds before the ball was cleared by the back four. However it was Valencia who had the first chance the ball was released to Paco Alcacer who turned, took a touch and fired just wide of the goal. Palace then took the lead with the next attack Wilfried Zaha getting down the left and crossing the ball and allowing Connor Wickham to flick past Matthew Ryan in the Valencia goal with 9 minutes on the clock.

The game then became bogged down in midfield with the Palace three of Zaha, Bolasie and Townsend proving particularly impressive with their movement and pace as well as their ability to interchange positions and create space for each other. The next real moment of note came when Yannick Bolasie was fouled on the left, the ball fell to Connor Wickham who finished with a stunning chip that flicked off the post and in, although a stunning goal was denied because the referee had already blown for the foul, much to Wickham’s dismay.

After this the game definitely became one that was a midfield battle, Mile Jedinak going in hard on Jose Cancelo causing the Valencia full back to have be substituted. In the next attack, Palace won a penalty Connor Wickham being bundled to the floor. Wickham picked himself up and took the spot kick himself, he fired more or less straight at Ryan although he did make up for it by rolling the rebound into the bottom corner of the net that was unguarded by the sprawled out Ryan. The rest of the first half was uneventful and Palace went in at half time with a deserved 2-0 lead.

At half time Valencia introduced summer signing and EURO 2016 winner, Nani into the field of play. Valencia seemed to start the half much better with Alcacer again pulling a shot wide. The game yet again became one that was mainly focused in the midfield area. With both sides having the odd attempt on goal,the only real event of note in the early minutes of the second half was Nani starting a scuffle by going in unnecessarily hard on Joel Ward, with him and Mile Jedinak being booked for the afters that followed. Palace then won a second penalty with substitute Keshi Anderson being bought down by Valencia keeper Matthew Ryan, up stepped his international teammate and Palace captain Mile Jedinak to take the penalty which he confidently dispatched into the bottom left hand corner of Ryan’s net. Palace were now 3-0 up and cruising while allowing Valencia to have much of the ball without doing a lot with it.

Valencia somehow didn’t pull one back on 72 minutes, a goalmouth scramble ensued with Wayne Hennessey pulling off a double save as well an excellently timed Scott Dann block on the goal line, the ball was finally thumped clear and Palace escaped the danger.

The last real event of note was Valencia finally pulling one back with Eugeni curling an excellent effort past Julian Speroni from around 25 yards albeit with a slight deflection off Scott Dann who was an imposing and stabilising figure throughout the match.

All in all a good workout for Palace against a team with a lot of quality, they dictated the game while not necessarily retaining possession and the acquisition of Andros Townsend for £13M looks like a fantastic piece of business by Alan Pardew, plus Palace also have France duo Steve Mandanda and Yohan Cabaye to come into the team as well along with James Tomkins who was injured and is touch and go for this weekend’s opening Premier League fixture with West Bromwich Albion. All in all a good start to what could be a great season for Palace.

MATCH REPORT: DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 1 LEYTON ORIENT 2 – PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY

Tags

Dagenham, Friendly, Orient

Leyton Orient XI: Grainger, Judd,(Erichot 45) Parkes,(Clohessy, 73) Brown, Doherty,(Semedo, 45) Koroma,(Moncur, 65)Atangana,(Kelly,62) Moore, (Weir,62) Cox,(Massey,77) Gnanduillet,(Bowery, 73) Palmer (McCallum, 62)

Dagenham XI: Cousins, Williams, Doe, Robson, Widdowson,(Ling,79) Boucaud, Robinson,(Guttridge,64) Maguire-Drew, Assombalonga,(Staunton,64) Hawkins,Okenabirhe

Leyton Orient made the short trip across East London to the Chigwell Construction Stadium to face John Still’s Dagenham & Redbridge who were twice beaten by the O’s in their League 2 campaign that ultimately ended in relegation to the National League, however since then 15 players had exited Dagenham with 11 coming in and Orient had let 9 go with a further 9 coming in. It proved to be a competitive match played on a nice summers evening.

Dagenham began the game strongly with Christian Assombalonga – brother of Nottingham Forest striker Britt having the first real chance when he dispossessed Josh Doherty before laying in Jordan Maguire-Drew who dragged his shot wide of Grainger’s left hand post. The next chance of note fell to Orient and Ollie Palmer who turned superbly away from his marker before making a 20 yard run before firing his shot just wide of the upright. Dagenham after a period of good pressure on the Orient back line took the lead with Okenabirhe crossing the ball first time, Tom Parkes failed to connect with an attempted clearance and Ollie Hawkins was there at the back post to tap in courtesy of very slack marking by Josh Doherty who didn’t have a very good game before being subbed at half time.

Dagenham had a golden chance to make it 2-0 after a mix up between Parkes and Doherty which culminated in the young full back blasting the ball at Sammy Moore from when it rebounded into the path of Assombalonga who from around 8 yards out put the ball the clean over the crossbar by some distance when it had looked easier to score.

Orient then began to really grow into the game and just before half time Josh Koroma controlled flicked the ball up, turned and volleyed just over from the edge the box – an effort that it had it gone in would have been one of the best goals that had ever been scored by an Orient player. This was quickly followed by an equaliser for the O’s, Dean Cox picked up the ball on the left turned back and made himself a yard of space, he put a pinpoint cross into the 6 yard area and Armand Gnanduillet who had made a good run across the area was in a position where he couldn’t have missed.

There was one more chance of the half when Dagenham won a free kick it was floated in superbly and met by Ollie Hawkins who forced an brilliant one handed save out of Charlie Grainger although the flag was up. At that point the ref blew for half time with the sides at level pegging.

The second half began and Orient were dominant from the outset the first real chance of the half fell to Armand Gnanduillet he picked up the ball on the left cut in and with nobody in the middle to pass to he went for goal from an amazingly narrow angle and hit the bar in the process before the ball flicked away. Gnanduillet then had an another chance the ball fell to him around 6 yards out after a header fell to him, he tried the spectacular and his scissor kick was just wide of the post it would have been a memorable strike.

Dagenham’s two chances of the half followed not long after when the lively looking Okenabirhe firing inches over the bar from the corner of the area. Then substitute and unpopular former O Luke Guttridge being inches away from connecting on a ball that flew across the O’s 6 yard box.

Orient at this point went into overdrive probing the Dagenham defence and looking for an opening, Freddie Moncur got away down the right found his way into the box, cleverly made a yard of space before seeing his shot blocked, Jordan Bowery headed the rebound at Mark Cousins who could only parry upwards and claim at the 2^nd attempt after a nervy few seconds for the Dagenham stopper. Gavin Massey then fired over the bar from just outside of the area after some good build up play from Weir and Kelly in the Orient midfield as the O’s desperately pushed for a winner. Orient’s last chance looked to have gone when trialist Reece Brown who looked far more assured in the second half than the first met Liam Kelly’s corner and headed just over the bar at the near post in the process. However there was a winner to come Sean Clohessy whipped in a superb cross in what must be a record second game in a row, which was met strongly by Paul McCallum – Mark Cousins could only parry and McCallum was quickly on to rebound to header the ball home from very close range. Meaning that the 326 Orient fans who had travelled went home happy.

Overall it was not a bad performance from Orient who for the 30 minutes were under the cosh and as the more of the first team came on to the pitch they grew in confidence. The youth team products involved all looked good, with Sandro Semedo impressing with his direct running from an unfamiliar position at left back, as well as Myles Judd at right back who got forward at every opportunity and caused the Dagenham defence problems in tandem with Josh Koroma.

MATCH REPORT: LEYTON ORIENT 0 CHARLTON ATHLETIC 0 – PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY

Tags

Charlton, Friendly, Orient

Leyton Orient XI: Cisak, (Sargeant, 61) Clohessy, (Judd, 77) Parkes, (Brown ’61) Erichot, Kennedy, (Doherty, 80) Massey, (Koroma ’77) Weir, (Atangana ’61) Kelly, (Moore ’61) Semedo, (Cox ’45) Simpson, (Palmer ’72) Bowery, (McCallum ’66)

Charlton Athletic XI: Phillips, Konsa, Teixeira, (Thomas, 79) Johnson, Fox, (Holmes-Dennis, 72) Holmes, Jackson, Muldoon, Harriott, (Ceballos, 88) Novak, (Ba, 82) Hanlan (Aherane-Grant, 72)

An early season London derby – albeit a friendly between two clubs who haven’t had the best of fortunes in recent seasons as Orient welcomed recently relegated Charlton Athletic to Brisbane Road. The visitors are managed by former O’s duo Russell Slade and Kevin Nugent who received a rapturous reception from the home fans in appreciation of their 4 year partnership which bought 3 top half League 1 finishes and a visit to Wembley for the 2013/14 League 1 Play-off Final.

The game began with both sides looking up for it – the first chance fell to one of Orient’s new signings Jordan Bowery being fed by Gavin Massey before scuffing his shot wide of Dillon Phillips’ near post with barely five minutes on the clock. The game settled down and Callum Harriott blasted over not long after. This was quickly followed by a major chance for Orient with Sean Clohessy getting down and the right and surprisingly delivering an excellent ball which Jay Simpson headed just over from around 6 yards. The O’s looked stronger and not long after Robbie Weir and Sandro Semedo had chances the latter only being claimed by Phillips at the 2^nd attempt.

However then came Charlton’s best chance of the half when Morgan Fox’s cross was nodded back across the O’s goal by Callum Harriott and needed Tom Parkes to smash it clear and away from danger. The next 15 minutes was one where the game was a little bogged down in midfield with Liam Kelly and Johnnie Jackson engaging in a duel that was enjoyable to watch as was the smart running of Orient’s Semedo and Massey, the latter stinging Phillips’ palms with a volley which he didn’t catch as well as he would have liked. Something that was punctuated with the screaming of Charlton’s Roger Johnson, at half time the sides went in level with Orient probably being the happier of the two having created more and controlled the midfield battle largely thanks to the efforts of Kelly and Weir.

At half time Orient made one change with Dean Cox making his first appearance at Brisbane Road since the 7^th November after his ACL injury. The second half began with Charlton on top, Ollie Muldoon had a fantastic chance when he was set up by Lee Novak but the young midfielder fired just wide luckily for the O’s. Another  chance followed quickly for Charlton with the lively Harriott trying his luck from 25 yards an effort which was matched by the superb save it bought out of O’s keeper Alex Cisak, then came a period of many substitutions. With mainly Orient and Charlton who only named 6 substitutes due to injury, international call ups and transfers both making changes.

The next big chance of game came after 75 minutes with Lee Novak breaking free in the Orient penalty area but only managing to fire straight at substitute keeper Sam Sargeant. Orient almost scored immediately after this, Ollie Palmer who looked lively throughout his appearance (Including a semi-scuffle with Roger Johnson, who for some reason didn’t fancy having a pop at Palmer) cutting in from the left beating a man and curling an excellent shot agonisingly wide of Dillon Phillips’ left hand post. There was one more chance of the note for the O’s when Dean Cox hit a sweet volley just wide of the Charlton goal, after which he had the look of a man who is obviously desperate to make up for the time he lost while injured last season.

Overall, not a bad workout for both sides and Orient will be very happy that they more than matched an albeit patchwork looking team from the league above. The progress of the new signings is also encouraging I was particularly impressed with Callum Kennedy who got up and down the left well and linked up well with Dean Cox. Liam Kelly is another who I feel will become a fans favourite with his all action style which for me drew comparisons with Romain Vincelot.  It is also extremely pleasing to see Paul McCallum and Dean Cox fit again after their awful injuries last season, something which I think all Orient fans will agree on.

FIVE FORGOTTEN PLAYERS

Tags

Arsenal, Brentford, Palace, Spurs, Stoke

Sometimes for whatever reason – one minute a player is flavour of the month, scoring left, right and centre, making big moves and being touted as one to watch and the next minute – nothing. Here are five indisputably talented players you may have forgotten.

Alex Pritchard (Spurs)

Alex Pritchard had 2 fantastic seasons in 2013/14 and 2014/15 at Swindon Town and Brentford respectively while on loan from his parent club, being included in the Championship Team of the Season while at the latter. But the last 12 months have been less kind to the talented attacking midfielder. Firstly a bad ankle injury sustained at the beginning of last season at the moment when he was looking a part of Mauricio Pochettino’s plans followed by another injury disrupted spell on loan at West Brom meant that Pritchard only played 74 minutes of senior action last season. This season will be vital for Pritchard as he looks to rediscover the form that made him a vital part of Brentford’s push into the play offs under Mark Warburton.

Josh McEachran (Brentford)

Josh McEachran made his Chelsea debut in a Champions League tie against MSK Zilina in 2010 aged just 17, he went on to make a further 16 appearances for The Blues that campaign followed by another 5 in the next. He then went the way of many Chelsea youngsters before and since spending a lot of time out on loan away from Stamford Bridge, with spells at Swansea, Middlesborough, Watford, Wigan and finally Chelsea affiliate Vitesse Arnhem. By this time McEachran was 22 and seeking first team football he made the switch across West London to sign for Brentford. Unfortunately he had an injury ravaged season soon picking up a bad knee injury that prevented him from making his Bees debut until December. He went on to make 15 appearances before fracturing his foot at the end of March and missing the conclusion to the season. So where did it go wrong for one of Chelsea’s most technically gifted prospects? A familiar pattern of successive Chelsea managers neglecting youth team prospects who could have potentially made the step into the first team. However McEachran is still only 23 and undoubtedly skilful so hopefully he gets fit and on track this season and establishes himself in Dean Smith’s side.

Emmanuel Frimpong (Free Agent)

Emmanuel Frimpong is perhaps more well known by some for his social media antics and his catchphrase ‘Dench’ Well there’s actually a decent player there – once rated as a top prospect at The Emirates and being linked with a switch across London to join Chelsea, Frimpong’s career has tailed off a little in the last couple of years. Firstly he suffered a horrible knee injury during an impressive spell on loan at Wolves in 2012 which put him out of the game for 6 months. This was followed by loan spells at Charlton and Fulham in which didn’t really happen for him. He made 16 appearances for The Gunners before an eventual move to Barnsley in 2014 where he famously didn’t look too chuffed to be. He was released at the end of that season after Barnsley’s relegation to League 1. Then followed a move to FC UFA of Russia for whom he made 28 appearances over 2 seasons, leaving the club not long after being controversially (and wrongly) banned for reacting to racist abuse from Spartak Moscow ‘Fans’ Frimpong is currently a free agent and no doubt is on the minds of a number of managers in The Championship and the higher reaches of League 1.

Lee-Chung Yong (Crystal Palace)

Lee came to prominence after two very impressive campaigns for Bolton after signing for The Trotters in 2009. Sadly a serious knee injury followed in the 2011/12 campaign that saw Wanderers relegated from the Premier League.  Lee came back and was a virtual ever present for Wanderers over the next 2 and a half seasons before a move back to the Premier League with Palace beckoned 18 months ago. Since then however Lee has found his game time limited with the form of both Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha hugely impressive, he has made only 20 appearances since his switch to Selhurst and with the recent signing for Andros Townsend for a reported £13Million pound fee, Lee’s time looks to be more or less over with Burnley reportedly interested in securing his services, at 28 Lee is in the prime years of career and has expressed his desire to leave Palace in order to get first team football.

Wilson Palacios (Miami FC)

Wilson Palacios once cost Spurs £12Million pounds when they signed him from Wigan in 2009. He had two fairly successful seasons in North London before he made a £6Million pound switch to Stoke on summer transfer deadline day in 2011. He played a respectable 28 games mostly from the bench due to a long standing knee complaint in all competitions in his first season in the potteries. In his second season he only played 4 games all season due to this complaint and he fell out of favour with Pulis. Things seemed to improve under his successor Mark Hughes in the following campaign in which he played in 21 games. In the summer of 2014 he failed a medical ahead of a proposed move to Qatar SC and hence did not take part in the next campaign for Stoke being overlooked by manager Mark Hughes and simply being allowed to run down his deal. In 4 years with Stoke he played in 53 games and became the forgotten man. Palacios currently plays in the NASL for Miami FC the franchise set up by Paolo Maldini and managed by Alessandro Nesta.

SEASON 2016/17: FOOTBALL LEAGUE FIVE TO WATCH.

Tags

Brighton, Charlton, Leeds, Millwall, Orient, Youth

Ademola Lookman (Charlton Athletic)

Ademola Lookman was one of the few positives that Charlton fans could take from the clubs dismal campaign last season firstly under Guy Luzon then Karel Fraeye and finally Jose Riga. Lookman, 18 made his debut for the club away at MK Dons at the beginning of November and scored his first goal for the club a month later in the 3-2 loss at Brighton. He ended the campaign with 5 goals from 24 appearances and was named Charlton’s Young Player of the Year. Lookman who is rated as one of the most exciting prospects in English football is an England youth international and has attracted interest from Premier League clubs Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool and may yet move on for a significant fee before the window shuts.

Aron Pollock (Leyton Orient)

Aron Pollock is a centre half currently playing for Leyton Orient in League 2. It is felt by many around the club that this season could be the one in which he goes on to stake a claim for a regular position in Andy Hessenthaler’s side. Pollock who signed a 2 year professional contract in May made his debut in Orient’s final home match of last season a 1-0 victory over Mansfield Town in which he was impressive defensively and even hit the bar with a speculative long range effort. With recent Orient academy graduate Moses Odubajo about to grace the Premier League could Pollock follow in his footsteps?

Ben Thompson (Millwall)

Ben Thompson began to cement himself in the Millwall midfield at the back end of last season, with several impressive performances that led to him being named the Football League Young Player of the month for April as well as Millwall’s goal of the season award for a stunning 25 yard volley against Shrewsbury Town. With his pace, energy and box to box style Thompson is certain to have a big role in The Lions’ promotion charge this season.

Jack Harper (Brighton and Hove Albion)

A year after joining Brighton from Real Madrid’s academy – Jack Harper is still an unknown quantity in English football. The skilled attacking midfielder featured prominently for Brighton’s U21 team last season and scored 4 goals in 16 appearances including a brace against Fulham’s U21 team. With the pedigree that Harper has you’d think that at 20 years of age and with a fresh campaign ahead that Chris Houghton would be looking in his direction to make an impact in the Seagulls’ first team this season. Harper outlined his credentials with an excellent strike in a pre-season friendly for Brighton’s U21 side at Hastings United. The link for which can be found below.

https://twitter.com/Jackharper7/status/754728938237296640

Lewie Coyle (Leeds United)

Lewie Coyle is the latest name to come out of the Leeds United Academy. The young full-back who made his professional debut for United as a substitute away at Nottingham Forest at the turn of the year quickly progressed into being a regular in the squad for Steve Evans’ side after the departure of Sam Byram to West Ham in January. Coyle started 7 games last term and despite reported interest in Fleetwood and Northern Ireland man Conor McLaughlin, the coming season looks to be an important one in Coyle’s development. In my opinion it wouldn’t be a surprise if Coyle went and made the right back position his own after the departures of Gaetano Berardi to Empoli on loan and Scott Wooton on a free transfer.

Thanks to James for his help with this article.

THE WAGNER REVOLUTION: EXCITING TIMES AT THE TERRIERS.

Tags

David Wagner, Huddersfield, The Championship

In every season there is a team that exceeds all expectations and makes everyone wonder – How the hell did they do that? Brighton for example went from relegation candidates in 2014/15 to a 21 game unbeaten start and being Play Off Semi-Finalists before an eventual defeat to Sheffield Wednesday last season. However, if Huddersfield Town had a similar journey this season it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise.

Town began to lay foundations for this campaign in the months after the January window had finished and before most clubs had turned their attention to the next campaign. Under former Borussia Dortmund pair David Wagner and Christoph Buler they began to look at bringing in players for this campaign. The first of which was Rajiv Van La Parra the Dutch Winger from Wolves. Who signed on loan with the deal becoming permenant in the summer window, Van La Parra had an excellent debut season in England but fell out of favour under Kenny Jackett and had a loan spell with Brighton last season. If he can recapture his first season form, Van La Parra could be a very astute signing for Town.

This was followed by the signing on a free transfer of Kaiserslautern full-back and Captain, Chris Lowe a player who had worked with the pair at Dortmund for whom he had played a handful of games for before making the switch to Kaiserslautern for a fee of around 500,000 Euros in 2013 and for whom he had been a regular in the following 3 campaigns. This was to signal the beginning of an exodus of players from Germany to the North West of England to join what has been labelled ‘The Wagner Revolution’

Before the end of April Wagner was to add imposing centre half Michael Hefele from recently promoted 3.Bundesliga side Dynamo Dresden, for whom he had been a key player –contributing 6 goals and captaining the side in their successful promotion push.

Since the end of the season, Wagner has added several new faces to his squad. German born Croatian defensive midfielder Ivan Paurevic from Russian League side FC UFA, towering centre-half Christopher Schindler from 1860 Munich for a club record fee, Elias Kachunga a striker and club-record signing from Inglostadt on a season-long loan deal and Jan Gorenc-Stankovic another centre-half who signed from Slovenian side NK Domzale but who had played under Wagner in the Dortmund II side and at only 20 looks like a very interesting prospect and may well be one to watch. All of these signings are players that Wagner has knowledge of from his time coaching in Germany and indeed it will be interesting to see how they adapt to the rigours and perhaps more physical style of a league like The Championship.

Wagner has also bought in several young British players and as somebody who has a built a large chunk of his career on coaching youth sides this is perhaps unsurprising. Jack Payne a highly rated attacking midfielder from Southend United was the first to join, Huddersfield beat off competition from several other Championship sides to land the 21 year olds signature, he is an exciting player who will be an interesting prospect. Wagner has also landed the loan signings of Kasey Palmer from Chelsea a key component of their FA Youth Cup and UEFA Youth League winning sides of the past three to four seasons and Welsh international goalkeeper Danny Ward from Liverpool who was very impressive for Aberdeen last season as well as the International stage for Wales at this summer’s European Championships when he stood in for Wayne Hennessey in their opening game against Slovakia.

Wagner has also signed Australian International Aaron Mooy on loan a player who had only recently signed for Manchester City from affiliate Melbourne City, Mooy does have experience of British football before, having been a trainee at Bolton Wanderers before leaving and having a 2 year spell in Scotland with St Mirren, before moving back to Australia to pursue his career further in 2012. I personally feel that Mooy will have a big say this season in how Huddersfield progress, he has a keen eye for goal having scored 17 goals from midfield last season for Melbourne the only question is; Can he translate it into the English Leagues and fire Huddersfield up the table and to perhaps challenge for a play-off spot?

Whatever happens, it should be an exciting season for Terriers’ fans and no doubt Wagner will demand success from his new crop of players, as well as the other talented members of the squad that he has retained such as Nakhi Wells, Kyle Dempsey and Phillip Billing.

MATCH REPORT: BROMLEY 1 MILLWALL 2 – PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY

Tags

Bromley, Friendly, Millwall

Starting XI Bromley: Julian, Howe (Makahsini ,77), Robinson (Anderson, 45 Osbourne, 80), Chorley(Swaine,45), Prestidge (Goldberg, 70), Sammoutis (O’Connor, 60), Sho-Silva (Onyisan, 65), G Porter (Johnson, 70), Turgott (M Porter, 73), Martin (Dymond, 52).

Starting XI Millwall: Forde, Romeo, Hutchinson, Nelson, Chesmain, Onyedinma, Abdou, Thompson, Worrall, Morison, Gregory

Millwall XI 62-90 Mins: Archer, Brown, Webster, Rooney, Craig, Twardek, Williams, Farrell, Wylde, O’Brien, Philpot.

An interesting clash at Hayes Lane yesterday (Saturday 16^th July) where Conference side Bromley welcomed last seasons losing League 1 play off finalists Millwall to Hayes Lane. The game set off at a good pace and in the 3^rd minute Millwall won a free kick out wide on the right. David Worrall took the set piece and Fred Onyedinma got on the end of it from around 6 yards out and nodded it past Bromley keeper Alan Julian amongst a plethora of suspect defending from the home side.

Not long after Julian was called into action when lively Millwall midfielder Ben Thompson tested him from around 20 yards, Julian made a smart save but could only parry and arguably Millwall skipper Steve Morison should have punished him but fired wide. As the game wore on Bromley came into play more, with trialists former Leyton Orient midfielder Blair Turgott and Tobi-Sho Silva formerly of Charlton looking lively. Bromley claimed an equaliser on 26 minutes when David Forde and Sid Nelson were involved in a defensive mix up allowing Sho-Silva to poke into an empty net.

The sides were level for less than 90 seconds however as Thompson steamed down the right and laid the ball off to Lee Gregory and the man who scored 27 goals for Millwall last season made no mistake and struck from around 12 yards. Not long after that Steve Morison forced a save of the highest quality out of Alan Julian with a curling effort following a corner. There was then some controversy as not long after Bromley had a goal ruled out under what seemed to be an incorrect decision from the linesman. Forde made another error allowing Sho-Silva to find George Porter, exchange passes and slot home for what he thought was his 2^nd of the game. However, Porter was adjudged offside despite the ball having been played backwards by Sho-Silva. The sides went in at half time at 2-1.

The second half began in a more quiet fashion with few chances of note. Blair Turgott hit the upright with a free kick on 54 minutes. Both sides made changes with Millwall boss Neil Harris electing to replace his whole side after 62 minutes. After which Bradley Goldberg fired a curling strike into the arms of Millwall’s Jordan Archer. Millwall were undeniably on top with their pressing play and the most impressive of the substitutes was former Rangers and Plymouth winger Gregg Wylde who made one mazy run that beat a couple of Bromley players before he was crowded out for a corner from which Millwall’s best chance of the 2^nd period came when Byron Webster headed over. Late on Bradley Goldberg fired an almost identical strike into the arms of Archer again, at which the point the referee blew for full time.