first friendly against Staines Town. Martin promised that the whole squad would
get a go and they duly did. Without the names on the back of the kit it was
difficult to tell who the young players were. Karlieigh Osbourne was captain for
the first half and Darius Charles was captain for the second half.
According to the program Ademole Bankole certainly looks the part between the
sticks. We still have Chris Hargreaves and San Lee and our product of Arsenals
Scholarship was Asaiah Rankine. Another fact about Staines was that on their
badge 'AD PONTES PROSPICIMUS' means 'TO THE BRIDGES OF PROSPERITY'.
The Bees nearly scored early on When Dudley Campbell hit the post. Dudley was
looking the part and I hope he will produce this form when the Bees get started
on the new campaign.
Olafur Ingi Skulason came close and forced their keeper into a decent save. He
looks promising.
From that it was end to end action and there were some 'dodgy' refereeing
decisions which went Staines's way.
The Massive nearly scored but Bankole produced a good save to deny them. It was
a great save and I hope that he can produce them until Nelson returns.
With 11 changes at half-time it could have possibly been better to substitute
them a few at a time as Sodje with his new haircut took a slight knock.
Asaiah Rankine, according to the Staines program, nearly scored but again was
denied by the right hand post.
I then had a little chat with the Staines keeper who had been released under
Noades before he was substituted. They had to switch kits as well.
The game ended 0-0 with several 100 bees fans taking the trip home not totally
happy but there were no injuries - RESULT.
From what I saw it looked as if we outnumbered them in attendance.
Team List:
First Half
Ademola Bankole
Kevin O'Connor
Michael Turner
Karleigh Osborn (Capt)
Sam Tillen
Ryan Peters
Oli Skulason
Jay Tabb
Ryan Watts
DJ Campbell
Lloyd Owusu
2nd Half
Clark Masters
Michael Dobson
Sam Sodje
Marcus Gayle
Darius Charles (Capt)
Paul Brooker
Ricky Newman
Eddie Hutchinson
Charlie Ide
Isaiah Rankin
Scott Fitzgerald