Is anyone at the Horley game today.? Interested to hear how we’re playing and who the trialist striker is.?
Trialist Striker is Alex Battle, released by Plymouth and he is really good. I hope the club sign him ASAP before he gets poached as he’s the type of player we need upfront
Comfortable win for Crawley under no real pressure from Horley. Nice tidy ground and a stroll really.
They scored within about two or three minutes to take the lead and our first half team didn't really create a great deal of chances. We grew into the game and started to take control and were rarely troubled. Al Hussaini was a stand out in the first half and he was superb - taking players on, making the runs and very unlucky not to score - where was he hiding last season - he looked very capable.
Nobody played badly, Manny was solid at the back, Archie davies, Nick Tsaroula all looked good. Nadesan up from was making clever runs and linking up well. Tilley looked exhausted by the end of the half - I am not sure if he payed in the last match or not.
The first goal was a real mix up in their defence. A high through ball, their keeper came to the edge of the area to claim it - he and their number 5 left it for each other, they both missed it and Ashley nipped in to nod into an empty net - the ball was going in anyway but it was nice to see him score against his former club.
The second goal came from a free kick on the left. It was whipped in, the keeper was very slow to react and somehow contrived to turn the ball into his own net when it wasn't netbound. 2-0 at half time.
The second half team for Crawley were a big step up from the first and we really took the game to them. We were faster, sharper and more skilful right across the pitch and they struggled to get out of their own half - in fact the only shot they had in the second half was a dribble shot from range which any of us could have gathered.
The third goal was also a shocker - a cross floated in, a routine take for the keeper and he fumbled it through his hands for his hat trick!
Enter the trialist who GBred has identified as Alex Battle. It is very hard to gauge how good a player is against poor opposition but my goodness, what a player he looked. His positional sense was outstanding - he always seemed to know where the ball was going to go and anticipated it well. He scored a quick-fire hat trick with three outstanding goals - no fumbles by the keeper, no own goals, just plain old skill.
The first goal he hammered in from just inside the area, having been set free by Tommy Nics and he hammered it just under the bar. For the second, a cross came over from the right and his movement to the ball left the defence standing and he scored with a superb header. The third was the best of the lot. Again from the edge of the area, he curled a beauty into the top right corner.
Is he what we need? can we judge a player against such limited opposition - of course we can!! sign him up he has a nose for goal.
All in all a hugely enjoyable game and Horley, as you would expect were very hospitable hosts and I am sure we all wish them well for the upcoming season.
Good report by Sons FC there, first half looked dodgy to start off with but once their players started to get a bit tired, Crawley did start to take control and the score ended up closer to something I thought it would end up being. Best player in first half I thought was Al-Hussaini, had a lot of pace down that side and some great link up play with Nick too, hopefully he will feature more in the first team this season as he has looked sharp in both games this week. Tilley did play on Tuesday but again was only first half, and to be fair he did tell me when we were watching second half that he was tired and wanted to rest that evening
Second half was a lot better and they managed to score 4 times in about 15 mins, with the trialist Alex Battle getting a hat trick. I'd see how he does in the games next week, as pretty sure he was the striker that didn't impress me at all on Tuesday, so feel we need to give him one or two more games before offering him a contract. Tyler Frost also had a goal disallowed which was a shame for him, and on another note the Horley goalkeeper's got to be one of the worst I've ever seen, think if they'd put John Yems between the sticks he would have done better
Good report by Sons FC there, first half looked dodgy to start off with but once their players started to get a bit tired, Crawley did start to take control and the score ended up closer to something I thought it would end up being. Best player in first half I thought was Al-Hussaini, had a lot of pace down that side and some great link up play with Nick too, hopefully he will feature more in the first team this season as he has looked sharp in both games this week. Tilley did play on Tuesday but again was only first half, and to be fair he did tell me when we were watching second half that he was tired and wanted to rest that evening
Second half was a lot better and they managed to score 4 times in about 15 mins, with the trialist Alex Battle getting a hat trick. I'd see how he does in the games next week, as pretty sure he was the striker that didn't impress me at all on Tuesday, so feel we need to give him one or two more games before offering him a contract. Tyler Frost also had a goal disallowed which was a shame for him, and on another note the Horley goalkeeper's got to be one of the worst I've ever seen, think if they'd put John Yems between the sticks he would have done better
Obviously you never had the pleasure of seeing Rene Gilmartin try and play !!!
Oh yeah forgot about him didn't he only play about five times for the club? The Horley one yesterday literally threw the ball into his own net and for Nadderz's goal he went charging out of his goal when he didn't need to