Esher 4 Guildford Saints Blues 3

The Blues took a pretty much full strength squad to Esher including three new players and the long awaited return of former Saints captain Dan Price and it was the Blues that looked the more lively from the kick off as James B and Jamie H linked up superbly in the early minutes but were unable to convert the chance. Esher rallied after this and the defence came under a bit of pressure. Against the run of play slightly the Blues took the lead though when a "diamond" pass from Chris put Jamie through to slot passed the 'keeper.

The game was very end to end after this. Esher came close on a couple of occasions with Alex O pulling off one particularly acrobatic save to keep them out. We also created a number of chances with Jamie looking a constant threat up front. Esher eventually equalised though when our defenders were very slow to close their opponents down in the penalty area. A quick reshuffle was required shortly after this when Mike B went off injured allowing Joe B to make his debut in a slightly unfamiliar centre midfield role. An Esher free kick saw some disastrous defending and appalling decision making and as a result the inevitable Esher goal!

Dan P entered the fray for the final 10 minutes of the half and was the catalyst for some late Blues pressure capped off just before half time when James toed in the equaliser for the Blues.

The second half followed the pattern of the first really but Blues created less chances and seemed under more pressure not helped by a number of substitutions that disrupted the shape of the side. Esher scored twice in the second period and towards the end some tenacious work by Tom O saw his shot deflected past the stranded Esher 'keeper for a final score of 4-3.

Generally pleased with the effort of our players. There are certainly some big fitness issues out their with Chris, the two Mikes and Jack all needing to work on this a bit more this pre-season. Good to see Dan back and very pleased with George, Joe & Luke who all played well on their debuts. I want to see more attacking play this season and there were good signs in the first half that we can do this but we can never underestimate the work our defence do week in week out and again today they did a grand job against awkward opponents. Jacob again stood out with his strong, committed approach and Tom O, George & Lawrence had good games.

Man of the Match - Jacob Rudman