Saturday 27th September 2008
Central Scorpions 7 - 3 Sidmouth Vikings

The third match of the season saw the Scorpions get a much needed win after two tough games. The first half was evenly matched with some good end to end play. The speed of the Sidmouth front players saw them score first, Scorpions responded in the best possible way with an immediate equaliser.
Some good goalkeeping decisions from Elliot Watts and some clever football from Chris Bayliss in midfield kept Sidmouth at bay and after several attempts from our front line Robbie Knightley controlled a midfield pass beautifully and scored Scorpions second with an excellent shot.

The Scorpions got the second half off to a flying start with two quick goals after some great link up play and running from Joseph McShane, T.J, Jack Hayes and Robbie Knightley. Jack Hayes must be the unluckiest player of the game having hit the bar and narrowly missing after cheekily chipping the keeper from near the halfway line! Keep trying Jack you will score!

Despite the best efforts of the defenders Sidmouth’s speed resulted in two more goals, however they were no match for Scorpions who went on to score three more goals. Tom Mitchell decided it was time to get in on the action coming up from defence to score from a corner, and judging by his grin T.J was rightly pleased to get his first goal for Scorpions.

It was great to see the training moves being put into practice and resulting in a well deserved win as the whole squad have been working so hard.

Goal scorers: Robbie Knightley 4, Joseph McShane 1, Tom Mitchell 1, T.J. 1
Man of the Match: Robbie Knightley

Saturday 20th September 2008
Central Spitfires 1 Phoenix Club 6

The Spitfires first home match of the season saw them entertain the Phoenix Club in what turned out to be a competition in front of goal. The keenly fought first half saw a very even battle between the two teams with both sides missing a number of chances before the visitors scored just before half time.

The second half was again fairly even however Phoenix were much more composed in front of goal and added a further 5 goals to their tally. Central squandered numourus chances with several being in open goal or one-on-one situations and it didn't seem as if they were going to score until George Kiloh showed a little class to pinch a consluation.

Coach's Summary: I was resonable pleased with the overall performance dispite the scoreline. Our defensive unit is looking better every week and we battled well in midfield using the channels and creating lots of chances. If things had gone our way in front of goal we may of had a chance of winning this match and some players could of got 3 or 4 goals but it wasn't to be. This score line doesn't really reflect how well we played so we need to take lots of positives from the game but we also need to recognise where we came unstuck and put it right for next week.

Saturday 13th September 2008
Sidmouth Vikings 4 Central Spitfires 4

The Spitfires faced a tricky away match against the Vikings but came away with their first league point in over 18 months. This was an evenly fought match from the start but Sidmouth found the net twice before the Spitfires could reply with George Kiloh's first goal of the new campaign and the half ended with the home team 2-1 up.

Central made a couple of changes during the break both enforced, Oliver Hutchings came on for Brendon Head who was struggling with a muscle injury and James Parsons came on to play up front whilst Will Haigh moved into midfeild and Gareth Davies went into defence to replace an injured Harry Howard.

The second half saw the Spitfires start the better team and George Kiloh got his second goal within 5 minutes of the restart to level the scores. Central continued to battle and managed to take the lead through a goal from James Parsons who last season played in goal for the Spitfires. At this point the match really could have gone either way with both teams having a succession of chances but it was Sidmouth who got through the Central defence making the score 3-3. Debut goal keeper Joe Tucker made a succession of excellent saves to keep the Central team in the game, and with 10 minutes from time James Parsons hit his second and the Spitfires fourth of the game to take a one goal advantage. Shortly afterwards the Spitfires conceded a penalty and despite an a valiant effort from the Spitfires goalie Sidmouth levelled the score to 4-4.

Coaches Summary: This was an excellent performance from the Spitfires with every player contributing to a very welcome away draw. Its difficult to pick out a man-of-the-match as this really was an all round team effort however, I would like to mention the following: There were three players who made their debuts during this game, Joe Tucker was truly excellent in goal, Gareth Davies proved that he can not only play in several positions but that he can play really well in several positions and Oliver Hutchings worked really hard on the left hand side and produced several good balls into the box and may have got a goal himself. David Orchard who was originally on the bench was asked to start at right back and did a fantastic job, Matthew Heggadon and Harry Howard were as strong as ever at the back and James McClay was wonderful at supporting the front men. George Kiloh, last years leading goal scorer got off the mark with a brace and James Parsons who also scored twice is going to make it hard not to play him up front every week. Kieran Wrigh-Brown is getting better and better with each match he plays, Brendon Head and George Strawbridge had solid games and provided some width, and Will Haigh, who was last years player of the season, battled for every ball and performed to his normal very high standard. Well Done Everyone!