Men’s 1st XI get off to a winning start in pre-season
West Herts 3-4 Men’s 1st XI
Goals: James Knibbs (2), Grant Carlin, Ben Scott
Northampton Saints men’s first XI officially got their pre-season underway at West Herts on Saturday. Saints travelled down with fresh faced side with 5 players making their debut, four of which were home grown players. Saints started well and put a lot of pressure on the home side’s defence who at times struggled with the movement of Joe Kopka and James Knibbs. The 32 degree didn’t help either team so rotations occurred every 5-6 minutes so keep everyone fresh and with a squad of fourteen, Saints were able to give everyone a lot of pitch tie. Despite Saints early pressure, it was Herts that took the lead. A long kicked clearance by the home goalkeeper caught the Saints defence napping and their forward ghosted through to put the ball past a stranded Paul Madeley. Saints continued to press however and a great pass from Kopka was collected on the 25 by James Knibbs and took on two defenders before hammering the ball into the far corner for the equaliser.
The first third ended at 1-1 despite a few wasted chances by Saints but a solid start to the game. The second third of the game went much the same, fairly even with both teams counter attacking well but doing their best to preserve energy and in the hot conditions. Adam Croutear was extremely solid at left back, beating every forward to the ball and fellow debutant Paul Wilkinson marshalled the centre of defence with confidence. Next to score was Saints through Grant Carlin. A loose ball was picked up by Christian Howard who fed Kopka down the right hand side of the D. His cross beat everyone apart from Carlin who tap in at the back post. Saints were rarely troubled in this third and Herts only broke the D twice to win short corners, both were defended successfully. The game was poised at 2:1 top saints going into the final third of the game.
As the game got stretched with tired legs it was vital that Saints continued to concentrate. Saunders, Parker, Carlin and Kopka continued to work very hard across the middle of the pitch to try and keep Herts from breaking. Half chances were wasted at both ends before Herts found the net twice in quick succession, one open play goal and another direct from a short corner. With 5 minutes to go Saints found themselves behind and although performance was more important than result, Saints rallied to try and even things up. Saints won a short corner late in the game after good work by Parker and Knibbs. Ben Scott stepped up to fire home from the top of the D to equalise at 3:3. Not content with a draw, Saints continued to break and their superior fitness shone through as they were first the every ball and broke again and again. With less than one minute on the clock Parker and Kopka combined down the left to set up James Knibbs 5 yards out and he made no mistake grabbing his second of the game and the winner.
A good solid start for Saints showing great effort and togetherness away from home. Great enthusiasm shown by Blunt and Gamble, two debutants, will continue to help push the first team squad forward. Also plenty to work in training this coming week. They need to be a little sharper on the ball and increase their movement in the opposition half.
The First team squad hope to see a couple more ‘youngsters’ invited along to train this Tuesday.
Squad: Paul Madeley (GK), Adam Croutear, Ben Northedge, Paul Wilkinson, Ben Scott (C), Dave Saunders, Christian Howard, Joe Kopka, Gareth Parker, Grant Carlin, Will Gamble, Alex Blunt, Scott Mahoney, James Knibbs.