Cadnam United 1-2 Sholing Reserves
Scorers : Golding, Papadopoulos
Date : 4 August 2014 - Pre-season Friendly
Team : Brooks, Joseph, Fear, Roundell, Golding, Fon, Dove, D. Smith, Tollervey, M.Smith, New. Subs all used : Papadopoulos, Gibbs, Davis, Batty, Harvie.
We took another young reserve squad to Hampshire league Cadnam Utd, Hampshire cup finalists last season, on Monday including 16
year old keeper Jordan Brooks.
Following on from Saturdays 3-1 win at Yateley we quickly got into our passing game without quite having the cutting edge required. As the first half progressed Macaulie Smith and Terry New soon got on the same wavelength going forward creating numerous chances whilst repeatedly beating the Cadnam offside trap.
Young keeper Brooks was assured throughout both in his handling and shot stopping whilst his back four was solid throughout the game. Despitehaving the better of the first half the score remained goaless at half time. HT 0-0
Early in the second half Serge Fon and Dan Dove continued to get a grip on the midfield with excellent support in wide positions from Liam Golding and Alex Papadopoulos. It was no surprise that after a quite superb 15 pass move, without a Cadnam player touching the ball, Liam Golding slid home our first goal after 52 minutes.
Numerous chances continued to fall to New, Smith and Fon without conversion and a defensive mix up on 79 minutes led to a free kick on the edge of the area which Cadnam punished us for our slopiness by converting. Victory in a game which we played well in and had general control of the match, particularly in midfield, looked to have slipped away from us until speedy greek winger Alex Papadopoulos ran onto an excellent pass from Macaully Smith and neatly finished on 84 minutes to give the young side a deserved win against a strong and well organised Cadnam team. FT 1-2
Our neat passing football was a highlight on the night from a team who in many cases had not played together before along with the performance of keeper Brooks.
Our pre-season programme is now gaining momentum as is the understanding of the team and quality of the football. We now move onto our 5th pre-season friendly on Wednesday night at Fareham Town, where we expect another tough game, followed by further friendlies to finish our pre-season games at Laverstock , Poole Town and Hythe and Dibden before our first league game on August 20th v Winchester City.
Report by Mark Stupple
Laverstock & Ford Reserves 2-12 Sholing Reserves
Scorers : Nathan Lynch 6, Macaully Smith 3, Marvin Mclean 2, Alex Papadopoulas.
Date : 9 August 2014 - Pre-season Friendly
Team : Mcaulie Stubbs, Taurean Maunders, Lewis Fea , Owen Roundell, Michael Bada, Luyandu Muhwanga, Callum Parker, Macaully Smith, Marvin Mclean, Nathan Lynch, Terry New. Subs all used : Alex Papadopoulas, Jordan Batty, Jake Davis, Koda Burnett, Ryan Dawson
Our reserves travelled to Laverstock with another strong squad although suffered a setback in the warm up when keeper, Rory Anderson, trapped a nerve in his back and couldnt take part in the game being replaced for the whole game by young defender Mcaulie Stubbs who proceeded to do an excellent job.
It was important that we responded well after Wednesday's disappointing defeat at Fareham and was soon evident that goals would arrive as numerous chances were created particularly from the midfield duo of Macaully Stubbs and Callum Parker .
We soon took the lead through Nathan Lynch however sloppy defending allowed Laverstock to equalise almost immediately. This acted as a quick reminder that no opposition can be taken lightly and we quickly maintained the tempo and passing in our game to score at will for the remainder of the half and took an 1-8 half time lead with the pick of the bunch being an excellent goal from Macaully Smith after great link up play with Callum Parker.
We made numerous changes at half time and missed opportunities in the second half although still managed another 4 goals with 1 in reply to finish 2-12 winners. Nathan Lynch finishing with a double hat trick and Macaully Smith with a hat trick.
Despite the scoreline this was a good work out for the boys with our opposition never giving up and an excellent response to Wednesday's first defeat in pre-season. The performance was also helped significantly by Nathan Lynch, Marvin Mclean and Rory Anderson who all soon integrated into the team and were encouraging and helping the younger players all afternoon which was excellent to see and shows Sholing FC in a great light.
We now take an Under 21 team, with a couple of over age players, to Poole Town on Wednesday night which should be a good test for our young team followed by our last pre-season game on Saturday at Hythe and Dibden before we start our campaign on Wednesday August 20th at home to Winchester City.
Report by Mark Stupple
Fareham 2-0 Sholing Reserves
Scorers :
Date : 6 August 2014 - Pre-season Friendly
Team : Brendan Norris, Jacob Joseph, Michael Badda, Dan Dove (Jamie Mansell 45), Lewis Fear, Owen Roundell (McAulie Stubbs 45), Liam Golding (Demetri Bernard 26 Terry New 77), Serge Fon, Macaully Smith (Marley Ridge 80), Tobi Adekunle, Coby Wilson (Macaully Smith 84)
A strong reserve team travelled to Fareham on Wednesday evening for our 5th pre-season game following on from wins on Saturday and Monday.
We started fairly brightly without ever getting any type of grip on the game and despite 4 corners the only worthwhile effort of note was a long range effort from Tobi Adenkule. At the other end we were continually on the back foot and only 3 outstanding saves from Brendan Norris kept the score at 0-0 at half time.
The second half continued in the same vian with our team never really gelling and performing anywhere near the level of previous pre-season games. It was no surprise when Fareham took the lead on 75 minutes and despite our tempo increasing with chances falling to both Jamie Mansell and Macaully Smith we couldnt convert a late chance.
As we pushed forward for an equaliser we were caught on the break in the last minute from a long ball out of defence converted in his stride by the Fareham attacker. FT 2-0
The score was a fair reflection on the game with no excuses from our team as we suffered our first defeat of pre-season.
Report by Mark Stupple
Hythe & Dibden Reserves 1-3 Sholing Reserves
Scorers : Terry New, Tobi Adenkule, Macaully Smith
Date : 16 August 2014 - Pre-season Friendly
Team : Lee Webber, Jacob Joseph, Owen Roundell, Dan Miller, Kane Crisp, Jess Walklin, Macaully Smith (captain), Coby Wilson, Cain Prentice, Tobi Adenkule, Terry New. Subs all used : Michael Bada, Callum Parker, Rhys Ferguson, Dan Dove, Mcaulie Stubbs.
We played our last pre-season friendly on Saturday v Hythe and Dibden who had a good season last year in the Wyvern league.
The game started slowly with little fluency on a difficult surface. As the half progressed we hadnt really troubled the opposing keeper until
Terry New quickly latched onto a pass from Cain Prentice and chipped the advancing keeper with a cool finish on 32 minutes.
With Dan Miller looking very assured at the back, captain Macaully Smith increasing his influence on the game and with the selfless
running of fit again Cain Prentice we started to take control of the game and came in 1-0 up at half time.
With Michael Bada, Mcaulie Stubbs and Callum Parker entering the fray at half time we continued controlling the game without taking chances and Hythe, slightly against the run of play, equalised on 55 minutes from a long range free kick. This appeared to motivate the boys to increase a gear or two and we looked a lot more dangerous and sharper in general play after this point particularly Michael Bada on the left hand side.
It was no real surprise when Tobi Adenkule ran onto an excellent pass from midfield by Callum Parker to slot the ball under the advancing keeper on 65 minutes to give us a 2-1 lead. This was quickly increased to 3-1 on 75 minutes when a strong powerful run and shot from Cain Prentice was saved and parried by the Hythe keeper only for Macaully Smith to pounce and tap in the rebound from 6 yards.
Hythe did have a couple of decent chances however we comfortably won the game 3-1 to conclude our pre-season programme.
Having played 7 reserve team pre-season friendlies, winning 5, drawing 1 and losing 1, we are definitely ready to start our season on Wednesday when we entertain Winchester City in our first league game with a 7.45 pm kick off at the Silverlake Arena.
"Whilst attempting to emulate the great success of the reserve side over the last few seasons our main objective remains in working closely with our youth team and helping to develop young players into the reserves and ultimately into the first team whilst also working closely with the first team when players need minutes on the pitch for various reasons before going back into the first team squad."
"We have assembled a large squad of young players for this season who will compete in the Wyvern League and 4 cup competitions and we are all looking forward to another very successful season for our reserve team." - Mark Stupple