[JonInMiddleGA]

July 13, 2013
Far too quickly for my taste, our first friendly has arrived. It'll be at home at Croft Park against League 2 side Rochdale, a club that finished 5th in their league last season. Feels like a considerably uphill battle ahead.

We'll roll out what might very well be considered our first team lineup today, in a new 4-4-2 Diamond formation.

GK: Dovey
D: A.Brown*, Jones, Antwi, Groves
DMC: Sawyer
MF: Whitaker, Bembo-Leta
AMC: White
ST Mutero, Cofie

Available: (Berry*, Smyth, Lobjoit, Holden, Thompson, Egbeku*, Kay, Paratore*, Dombaxe, Seery, Christian*, McDonald)
* indicates trialists

1' - Cofie gets a yellow card for tripping
2' - Mutero takes our first shot, saved easily
13' - Rochdales misses a 1-on-1 wide right
16' - White turns the ball over in our end, they hit the post with a shot
37' - Gray beats Dovey with a half volley (0-1)
42' - Carl Jones goes down injured, Sub Seery, also switch to Counter
45+1 - White shoots from distance, well wide left

Outshot 7-2, only 39% poss, only 63% passing (49% by D), we're basically outclassed here & they're taking it rather easy on us thus far. We'll shorten the passing style to try to help with that. Groves (5.7) has been the worst, Sawyer & Whitaker (both 6.7) have looked at least okay, Sawyer in particular.
Sub Dombaxe for Cofie (move Bembo-Leta to ST). I suggest that the team show a little more competitiveness.

55' - Sub Holden (for Brown), Kay (for Antwi), Paratore (for Leta), back to Standard
61' - Kay launches a long shot that almost handcuffed their keeper
68' - Holden with a centering pass into the box ... Dombaxe heads it in (1-1)
68' Sub Smyth (for Groves), Berry (for Sawyer), Egbeku (for White)
73' - Seery just misses after an inswinging corner by Whitaker
79' - Whitaker rattles the post after a nice cross by Dombaxe
84' Sub Christian (for Whitaker), switch to 4-4-1-1 Std

Fulltime Blyth 1 - Rochdale 1 (friendly)
Not too bad really. Ended up outshot 8-5, but that's 3-1 our favor in the 2nd half. Ended up with 46% poss, finally started hitting a few crosses (had zero in the first half) and one of those led to our goal.

In addition to MOM Dombaxe (7.4) we had 6.9's from Seery, Paratore*, Kay, Holden, and Smyth. On the downside, Groves (5.8) looked bad as did Cofie (5.9), Bembo-Leta & Jones (6.2) weren't much better.

July 13, 2013 (postmatch)
Carl Jones will be out 4-5 weeks to recover from a pulled hamstring
Several more trialists come on board, there are definitely spots to be had