East Grinstead at home, Friendly - 29 Sep 2007

A fine sunny day and a pristine pitch at Addiscombe greeted both sides in their first ever encounter in this pre-season friendly. And it became quickly apparent that Purley needed the match practice, as they under-performed at both ends of the field. In fact the only area where Purley excelled was in the centre, where new recruit Bill Laidler won almost every face-off.

It was East Grinstead who opened the scoring to take a 0-1 lead, but Purley soon levelled, and barring a brief period at 3-3 they were always in front. However the could never put any distance between the teams, with their lead only ever as high as 2 goals. It was a story of East Grinstead punishing any Purley mistakes with good team play, unerringly finding the open man on any missed slides or defensive assignments, followed by Purley restoring their advantage with moments of individual flair, or more rarely with brief glimpses of their usual class.

If Purley continue like this next week then they could be in trouble against a re-vitalised Spencer. Final score 8-7.

Goals: Mike Barrett 3, Bill Laidler 3, Matt Payne 1, Dennis McKenna 1
Ref: Simon Peach

Photos by Steve Cluney.