Non-league cob webs at the back of a small 4 deep seated stand and glorious Sussex sunshine awaits a relaxed looking manager and a strong starting line up including 3 trialists. Burgess Hill v Crawley Town. Mostly locals but a few Red shirts in a low crowd with 8 mins to ko.
That’s Joel Lynch at the back right? Jake H has scored 0-1
Yes JL knows how to climb over the Hill forwards. HT Reds (playing in black) lead 1-0 after somewhat Hill (in blue) mix up at the back. Few moments for Hill but lots Reds attacking play and had they taken all their chances would probably be 4-0 up or thereabouts.
Mistakes at both ends. FT 1-1; Reds missed chances and Hill keeper pulled off 2 good late saves but it ends all level at 1-1 and really Hill deserved it. Early days but Reds must do better. Nichols looked frustrated at the service he got.
The passing was really poor today, especially in the second half. I know it's just a friendly but I wander if it won't be too long before we need to find a long term replacement for Morris too, he looked really shaky today
Good fitness workout, credit to BH for being rugged, lot of the tackles weren’t gentle pre-season. Very intrigued if we do go for Lynch, he’s a stocky lad these days but was confidently ordering the signed players about.
Gallagher looks a decent size and maybe the option those times we need a bigger presence at LB than Nick T. Couldn’t really make much of the new J Payne, Powell type player possibly.
Lynch could be a squad player. Wins the headers. I agree other trialists never stood out.
I think if we offer him a contract he would also provide good experience (especially for the younger players) as well as offer cover to Tunnicliffe and Dallison (who I believe should be the starting CBs for first league game). Should be an upgrade on Tony Craig, who IMO is not good enough for L2 anymore
And yeah none of the other trialists did much, wonder if the guy that scored a hat trick on Saturday was made to look good by the poor standard of opposition that day. Burgess Hill I thought were the best of the 3 teams we've played so far and wouldn't be surprised to see them challenge for promotion in their league judging by that
First time I have seen Crawley in a while. A good competitive game even though there are 4 divisions between the teams.
If that was Battle up front with Nadesen first half then forget it. Wood looked a bit more promising in the second.
Hessenthaler was busy and the new left back looked good. The two central defenders second half look like stiffs at best.
Left wing in second half (Al Hussaini?) looked lively but is quite slight physically and might get knocked about by L2 defenders.
Couple of decent saves by Hill keeper towards the end.
Good to see Scott Kirkwood back for another season at BH albeit a short one last night before injury. Must be 18 years now since his Crawley days.
Final thing, not sure if I'm imagining it but do CTFC really have more coaches than Crawley Luxury these days? There seemed to be a lot of people giving instructions from the touchline.....
First time I have seen Crawley in a while. A good competitive game even though there are 4 divisions between the teams.
If that was Battle up front with Nadesen first half then forget it. Wood looked a bit more promising in the second.
Hessenthaler was busy and the new left back looked good. The two central defenders second half look like stiffs at best.
Left wing in second half (Al Hussaini?) looked lively but is quite slight physically and might get knocked about by L2 defenders.
Couple of decent saves by Hill keeper towards the end.
Good to see Scott Kirkwood back for another season at BH albeit a short one last night before injury. Must be 18 years now since his Crawley days.
Final thing, not sure if I'm imagining it but do CTFC really have more coaches than Crawley Luxury these days? There seemed to be a lot of people giving instructions from the touchline.....
Yeah that was Alex Battle up front in 1st half, he didn't do anything at all, and guess you mean Owen Gallacher as new left back? He's looked pretty good in all the friendlies so far and I wonder if he'll be the main starter in that position in the league season, with Nick being converted to a left winger which is where I feel he will excel at more in the future
Al-Hussaini definitely has got pace but his technique was pretty lacking last night and as you say I can imagine him getting knocked over quite easily by defenders at our level. He could probably benefit a lot from going out on loan to Conference/Conference South team until at least Christmas