Seven Hills AFCBen Ward x2, Jared Rhodes x2, Joe Ingledew x3, Warren Lindley x29
Sheffield FC DT3
We invited our friends at Sheffield FC DT for the first game between the two clubs in this friendly match.
Sheffield have been extremely supportive of our journey to date, and we'd had a great relationship with them from our previous team, so we wanted that to continue.
Being a friendly, we took a large squad, with the aim of getting everyone even minutes - playing 45 minutes each, and the main focus was fitness, performance and not so much about the scoreline.
However, Sheffield had recently dropped down from a couple of divisions and there was no desire to set this game up as a cricket score. So it was decided to allow Sheffield to introduce an extra player if the scoreline was 5 goals in Seven Hills Favour, and that some of the Seven Hills players would join Sheffield squad to increase competitiveness of the match.
The game started well, but neither side really getting a grip in the opening 10 minutes, but shortly afterwards, Seven Hills started to take control.
After 35 minutes the score would be 5-0, and Crofty stepped up to be available for the opposition who requested a bit of assistance in the middle of the park. And within minutes it was 5-1 - not that Crofty touched the ball mind, this was all Sheffield.
Seven Hills pulled a couple of goals back to make it 7-1 at half time.
The second half saw a complete squad change (apart from Marsh making his debut in goal).
To increase the attacking threat of Sheffield, Liam volunteered, and started well in the second half, and it started to work. They continued with the additional player on the pitch, and the game became much more balance. Gav also came on for them following an injury later on in the game, to leave Sheffield with an almost entirely Seven Hills midfield at times!
Second half would finish 2-2, and the game 9-3.
We wish Sheffield FC DT good luck for the season and thank them for the great work out.
Debuts for: Dylan, Mo, Lewi MOM: Joe and Roe