Halstead Game Tonight

[mooresy25]

Anyone got any ideas what kind of squad we'll be taking to Halstead tonight?

I remember last year we played our reserve/youth team with a couple of first teamers trying to regain match fitness after injury. The game was pretty poor.

Be good to see a strong side!

[Iron Fans Chief]

Does it matter what squad goes to play another team, they all need our support what ever level, having said that, I believe that Rod was going to take a good squad over using the opportunity to trail a few more he didn't get onto the main pitch Friday night.
From what I've seen so far just about all the friendlies will be worth a watch if you can get to the games.
Shame a lot stayed away Friday night thinking it would not be entertaining - more fool them eh!!!

[mooresy25]

No I guess your right it doesn't really matter. Be nice to see some of the new lads who'll be first teamers next season though. They gave a good showing on Friday, was really impressed!

[dav]

Is the game definately on btw? Not sure Halstead's preseason plans have exactly gone smoothly so far...

[chino12345]

Does anyone know the score of tonights game and the team we fielded?

[cm7]

I heard it was 1-0 with Louis Riddle scoring, not sure how reliable that is though!

[1672]

It was def 1-0 but not sure who scored as no programmes or team sheets available.
Such a different game, at least in the first half, from the Gillingham match. We were lethargic and a very energetic and muscular Halstead were running rings around us in midfield, getting to loose balls long before us. First half ended 0-0 and the boss must have had a word with them as the second half was notably better, and we started to put some nice one-touch passes together. They were still struggling against Halstead who were using their weight advantage to bundle us off the ball and with better finishing might have beaten us (again!).

[cm7]

HALSTEAD TOWN 0 – 1 BRAINTREE TOWN

Normally, a game between two local rivals can be considered to be tense at the best of times, yet on a night of sunset and rainbows over Rosemary Lane, this pre-season ‘friendly’ lived up to its billing: very friendly!

In the absence of manager Jody Brown, Halstead duo Chris Bryan and Andy Joslin put together a very competent young side for this match against Blue Square South side, Braintree Town, with both sides blowing away the summer cobwebs for the season ahead.

It was Halstead that started the brightest. After just three minutes, a well-crafted one-two between Seb Murfet and Joslin allowed the ball to be crossed to Chris Bryan whose shot was saved by Braintree keeper Shaun Gore. From the resulting corner, Tom Devaux was unlucky to see his header cleared off the line by defender Billy Hawes.

After this, the match became one of containment for Halstead as Braintree started to dominate the midfield. Twenty minutes in, man-of–the match, Justin Hazel came to life for Braintree. His rapport with defender Hawes caused havoc down the right, and a series of clever inter-plays saw the visitors come close on numerous occasions through strikers Billy Holland and Louis Riddle.

The game was tempered however by the injury to Liam Morley who was stretchered off just before half time with a knee injury.

As is a friendly, both teams changed their line-ups for the second half. The noticeable differences being Paul Rutherford in goal for Halstead and Jordan Lartey and Ikenna Ofoche for Braintree. It was the visitors who rose to the challenge. Wave after wave of attacks saw Ofoche and Lartey bringing out fabulous saves from Rutherford until the pressure told and following a well-crafted move down the right, the ball was crossed by Hazel through a static Halstead defence for Lartey to score.

The rest of the game was about Halstead standing guard and minimising the score but to their credit, they did exactly that against a side four leagues above them.

Halstead’s academy set-up, albeit, a tad summer rusty, is starting to pay dividends at Rosemary Lane. It’s a reflection on the spirit at the club that even with their manager being absent through illness, they have the gall to field a very young side against a very seasoned Braintree team and barring a repeat last seasons fixture fiasco, this team WILL go up this season .
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ From the Halstead site

[dav]

Would take the Halstead version of events with a large pinch of salt, Ridds scored the goal after great work from Hazell down the right, but that was probably it as far as quality went.

Apart from Hawesy who played 90 mins at left back and left sided centre back, nobody else who played against Gillingham made it on to the pitch. Hazell was available after missing Fridays game, but the rest of the squad were mostly triallists - including Louis, Andy Porter and Shane Gore in goal.

Chuck together that many players who were playing out of position and had never played together it was a useful run out, but nothing to get excited about. I'm sure a handful will stay on for the next round of games but for most that was probably their only game in a Braintree shirt.

[cm7]

Cant see why we're bringing Porter back in (even though its only a trial) we have players alot better than him.

Shane Gore's not a bad keeper but with McDonald and Morris-Sanders signed on, dont see the need for another one.

It's the same with James Hawes and Louis Riddle, think we have players in those positions who are better and it seems we are just giving them a chance as they've done well in the past.

Just my opinion though, obviously not everyone elses.

[roytheboy]

I see a place for James Hawes he gives 100% every game and never gives up.

[Stuart R]

I also think James Hawes has to be at Braintree. The effort he puts in is terrific and I was really disappointed to see him go last season and it would be great to have him back.

All the team did pretty well last night and all of them looked pretty decent and I didn't see one player that didn't do a decent job last night.

[ozbrit]

Thanks for the reports and comments on this friendly. If we get as much coverage of our league games when the season has commenced, I for one will be very happy. CM7 can you post match reports on a regular basis please.

[cm7]

Yeah I can do mate, no worries. There not my own reports, just taken from other teams websites.

[jimbo]

I agree with all the positive comments about Hawsie. In addition he seems to be popular amongst the other players. Managers and players seem to love shouting out "Hawsie", usually to tell him to do something, which to his credit he does. However there are two big problems - (1) God bless him, his top speed is a fast jog and he does keep to the same speed no matter what is happening, even when he is doing his best to get back to help out the defence and (2) if he is faced with a defender, he has no footballing tricks to get past them.
He does time his runs into the box very well (ghosting in like Martin Peters) and gets most of his goals like that, but does not do that enough; he could be scoring a useful 10 goals a season.

In short, he is a first class club man and will always be a useful member of the squad, just as Goodie was, but the key question is - can he speed up and progress with his footballing skills or is he just going to stay as "Good old Hawsie"? Otherwise he is going to keep drifting in and out of the first team and end up being used in all sorts of different roles (just as Goodie did) and I have seen him in every position except goalkeeper). I wonder if Rocket Rod can work on him and make him a better player - I certainly hope so.