Firstly I would have to say what a fantastic night it was at Chris Todd’s charity match at Buckland’s Homers Heath. It looked like those that went had a thoroughly enjoyable time, myself and my daughters certainly did.
Secondly full Credit Buckland FC for being superb Hosts and to Torquay United for the way that the players conducted themselves. And also to Helen Chamberlain who obviously had the furthest to Travel and did a great job in the clubhouse afterwards, more of which later.
Although Dave has already alluded to me doing a match report, I tend to think the match itself was a small part of the whole evening.
We got there a couple of hours before kick off and it was already buzzing, ALL of the Torquay lads were there. They were VERY amiable, signing shirts, having their photos taken, chatting with anyone who wanted to talk to them. It was all very relaxed and friendly, so good to see the players mingle with the fans. It also prompted my daughter to say that they were just like real people, human after all. ;D
Special credit must go to Chris Hargreaves who spent the whole evening talking to all in sundry, he just couldn’t do enough for everybody. After last season he already had hero status in my eyes, now he has taken that to ‘super hero’ status, what a great ambassador for the club. Also thanks for taking my shirt into the changing room and getting everyone to sign it.
The ground and facilities at homers Heath are fantastic and would put some of the BSP clubs to shame. The Buckland staff are most welcoming and they also couldn’t do enough for you. The groundsman wasn’t happy with the state of the pitch, saying that he wasn’t able to get enough water on it, however although it looked a bit brown it looked a really good surface, the ball held up nicely, it wasn’t hard underfoot and it allowed both teams to knock it around a bit. If he had seen the state of Histons ‘pitch’ or Salisburys then maybe he would realise that it was in a good condition, it was a millions times better than the coach road pitch used for last seasons pre season friendly.
The sight of a couple of Caravans on the Top pitch would have had a few forum members grimacing, however they were serving beer and Burgers and I was reliably informed that they moved on after the game. ;D ;D
With a crowd of 747 watching in the warm summer sun Buckland lined up in an all pink kit, in respect to the Cancer/Leukaemia charity. Torquay lined up in a garish Orange kit, please don’t let that ever be considered as an away kit.
The match itself, and the ‘report’ carries a huge caveat in that I realise it was a Pre Season friendly, in fact it was more of a end of training session 11-a-side.
First half we lined up as follows;
Bevan
Trialist (Jamie Hatch??) Todd Ellis Hodges
Carayol Adams Brough Stevens
Trialist ( Ben Joyce) Benyon
The first 20 minutes saw several chances for United in what looked like it could be a very one sided game. Benyon spurned a few opportunities, one of which saw him put clear through with only the keeper to beat, but he showed a bit too much of the ball and the keeper saved it comfortably. That said the Buckland keeper was outstanding in the first half.
The deadlock was broken after about 25 minutes, the lively Carayol was put through and he mad no mistake, rounding the keeper and slotting it past a covering defender.
Stevens and Carayol both had good first halves often beating their man, as you would expect. One thing with Carayol though was he didn’t try and be too flashy, none of the multi step overs, just plain and simple take the man on using pace and close ball control.
Just before Half Time, Carayol smashed a shot on to the post, before a minute later striking one in from just inside the box which went under the keeper to make it 2-0, the only slight Blemish on an otherwise outstanding display from the Buckland number 1.
I found out later that the guy who played up front with Benyon was Ben Joyce, although during the first half Dave and myself thought he might have been guy that had paid £400 to play. That didn’t do him justice as he did score 2 in the second half.
A bit of a one sided half and looking likely it could turn into a massacre in the second half as you would half expect the Buckland boys to tire.
It was difficult to judge on player performance except to say that Mussy & Danny played well, Brough got around a bit and was very keen to be involved in everything. Benyon could have had a hat trick, Adams was quiet. The back 4 and Bevan had literally nothing to do, may be the Charity guy should have played in goal during the first half. The right back was also a trialist, Jamie hatch I believe, I quite liked the look of him, had something about him, would like to see him given another few halves to see what he is like.
A further thing to add is that Brough looks a lot fitter, and slimmer, than the end of last season. The same could also be said for a few of the other players who could be siad to carry the odd spare pound, Sills, Wroe, Nicholson all looked in good shape.
Second half lined up as;
Rice
Mansell Robertson Todd Nicholson
Carlisle Wroe Thompson Carayol
Sills Joyce
Far from lying down and rolling over, Buckland started the second as the more positive team, forcing some good saves from Rice. They had three or Four decent chances/half chances and there were a couple of us (those who had predicted 3-1, 4-1 etc) hoping that one might go in.
Todd had a chance with a header to really put the gloss on his night, as did Roberston. Around the hour mark Toddy left to a rapturous round of applause and was replaced by a further Trialist (Don’t know his name) and a couple of minutes later Mussy was replaced by a Crouch look-alike. It was at this point that we realised that the ‘Trialist’ up front was not the winner of the charity auction. A minute later he confirmed this with a good finish to make it 3-0. Put through by Wroe (I think) and looking a touch offside he took the ball in his stride and did what Benyon failed to do in the first half, rounded the keeper to score. This obviously gave him the confidence he needed as he came into the game a lot more, with a couple more chances before making it 4-0 in the 75th Minute. Once again put through against a rather flat back four, this time he slotted it hard and low past the keeper. He also had a chance for his hat trick, when once again put through and once again looking a tad off side, he tried an audacious chip, which made it over the goalie but didn’t have the legs to cross the line before being cleared by a defender.
It finished 4-0, a good opportunity for a run out and Buckland provided a good enough test for a first pre season match. They would also provide a decent side, and ground and facilities, should the need occur at some point in the season when some of the fringe players need a full 90 minute game. With no reserve fixtures this would prove an ideal run out.
However, the match was really of secondary importance compared to the Charity Auction that followed in the club house after. More of which in a following post, as I am at a work PC trying to do this report whilst looking relatively busy.
Forgot to say that it was good to catch up with Dave, Jon and Phil (Chelstongul). I had read that had a skin problem, however he looked fine to me
, plus I stood on the wrong side and had a low sun to deal with.
Helen lives in the Surrey "Baby Bentley Belt", not far from the Chelsea training ground or Epsom Downs where her race horses are trained by Simon Dow!