New faces shine in first friendly

EASTLEIGH v GRAYS ATHLETIC



FRIDAY 11th JULY 2008

Pre-Season Friendly

By Jamie Montigue

Eastleigh welcomed several new faces to the Silverlake Stadium for this first pre-season friendly, including summer signings Tom Jordan, Trevor Challis and strikers James Baker and Matt Groves.

Former Havant and Waterlooville FA Cup hero Tony Taggart was also in an Eastleigh shirt for the first time and marked the occasion with a stunning goal.

From last years squad only goalkeeper Jason Matthews, captain Andy Harris, midfielders Anthony Riviere and Peter Adeniyi made the starting line up with Luke Byles on the bench.

Blue Square Premier outfit Grays Athletic were the visitors for this warm up match, which proved to be a valuable run out for both sides and a thoroughly enjoyable match.

Ten minutes into the game, former Queens Park Rangers youngster Stefan Bailey sent across an awkward cross from the right touchline. Ashley Vickers cut the ball out with a key header at the cost of a corner kick.

Soon after, new recruit and former Weymouth full back Trevor Challis gave the ball away cheaply to Charlie Ide but managed to come away unscathed from the misjudgment. The Grays winger slightly over ran the ball with the assistant referee deeming the ball to have gone out of play before the pull back was made which was turned home into an unguarded net, only to be ruled out.

Eastleigh's first real chance came on seventeen minutes from an Andy Harris centre towards the target of James Baker who flung himself at the ball whilst closely marked, managing to flash a good header narrowly wide of the target.

Seven minutes later the Spitfires took the lead thanks in the main to a great assist from Baker. Rob Gier was caught in possession by the former Braintree Town striker Baker, who casually nipped the ball off the right back to the left of goal and then had the presence of mind to get into the box and roll an unselfish pass across goal to the near post. MATT GROVES was on hand to stab the ball home and put Ian Baird's side a goal up.

Jason Matthews had relatively little to do thus far, with the experienced back four of Challis, Jordan, Vickers and Harris in front of him, but was called upon on the half hour to make a decent stop from a Charlie Ide strike, which he smothered at the second attempt.

Barely a minute later, Eastleigh had doubled their lead with a strike right out of the top drawer. TONY TAGGART worked a bit of space out of nothing to create the opportunity before letting fly with a fine shot from all of 25 yards that flew past the goalkeeper Steve Arnold and into the net.

Eastleigh came close to extending their lead yet further ten minutes before the break. James Baker initially looked like he had missed the chance having swung a leg at the ball and missing it completely, but this air shot seemed to work in his favour fooling the Grays defence as Baker steadied himself for a second try. This time he made great contact and had Arnold scrambling across his goal with the effort that came just inches wide of goal.

The visitors had two late chances in the half, firstly from Danny Kedwell whose shot from just outside the box was tipped around the post by Matthews. Barry Cogan had an even better chance as he broke into the area finding himself with just Matthews to beat, who this time made an impressive stop with his legs to keep the ball out.

HALF TIME: Eastleigh 2-0 Grays Athletic

During the break, Ian Baird took the opportunity to look at other options and introduced Luke Byles, 18-year-old academy left back Adam Shepherd and trialist Jerome Walker. The players making way were Trevor Challis, Ashley Vickers and James Baker.

Grays' left midfielder Alex Campana was causing a few problems down the left flank whilst Matt Bodkin, who came on at half time, was equally impressive down the right.

In the 52nd minute, Campana – formerly of Watford, brought the ball in from the left taking on Andy Harris before forcing a fine save out of Matthews who was at full stretch to parry the ball away to safety.

17-year-old central midfielder Chris Mason, who captained the second team for the majority of last season and is another bright prospect from the successful Eastleigh College Academy, came on for Tom Bird, a trialist from Basingstoke Town, ten minutes into the second half. Mason operated in an unfamiliar role, that of right midfield and then later at right back but did extremely well and did not look out of place at this level.

Grays halved the deficit with a goal from ALEX CAMPANA in the 57th minute. Matt Bodkin did all the hard work with a lovely run and cross from the right to pick out the run of Campana who had dashed to the far post to meet the cross with a header that went in off the underside of the cross bar.

Shortly after the hour mark, Eastleigh made two more changes with England Colleges Under 19's International centre back Aaron Martin replacing Tom Jordan in the heart of defence, and Matt Groves making way for 18-year-old Joe Maxwell, scorer of several goals for the reserves last season.

Eastleigh's final two changes saw Neil Davies come on for Anthony Riviere and 17-year-old attacker Aaron Milburn replace Andy Harris. Peter Adeniyi took the captain's arm band and continued to impress with his performance.

Milburn's first involvement was an excellent shot on target within seconds of entering the pitch. Walker hooked the ball to his right where Milburn was on to it in a flash with a powerful half volley that was hit low and well saved at the near post.

Eighteen minutes from time, Grays found an equaliser through JAMIE TAYLOR. Matt Bodkin was instrumental once more with a second assist. This time he had swapped wings with Campana and attacked Mason down the left flank before floating the perfect ball across goal. Bodkin's cross sat up nicely for Taylor who had a free header at the back post and was never likely to miss.

Danny Kedwell fired a free kick comfortably over the top from a good position in the 77th minute and this proved to be Grays' last attacking threat of the game.

Two minutes from time, Chris Mason worked the ball down the line for Milburn whose low cross found Taggart lurking in the eighteen yard box. Taggart whose goal alone proved just what he is capable of and the ability that he has to offer, would have been very pleased with his all round performance tonight but on this occasion could only shoot straight at Arnold.

A great effort from both sides, with a lot of positives to be drawn in particular for Eastleigh's new signings and the talent that is coming through who look more than capable of holding their own this season in the first team squad if they continue to work hard.

FULL TIME: Eastleigh 2-2 Grays Athletic