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Sidley win opening friendly

Sidley United 3 - 0 Eastbourne Town Reserves

On a warm summer's evening, Sidley United took their first tentative steps back towards footballing glory with a friendly match against Eastbourne Town Reserves.
In their smart new kit, provided thanks to Hastings Direct, the team was a good mix of youth and experience, with familiar faces and new players both eager to please joint managers Adam Day and Owen Ball.

Sidley got off to a good start, scoring in the 7th minute when a free kick awarded out wide left was floated into the area where it was met by a firm header to find the net. The game settled down after that with both sides competing strongly for possession. Eastbourne should have equalised when a mistake by a Sidley defender presented the ball to the feet of the opposition striker. However, he snatched at his shot and hit it straight against the Sidley keeper. Despite being overrun in the midfield for a ten minute period, Sidley managed to get to half-time with their lead intact.

A second goal came early in the second half, this time from a corner kick which resulted in a goal-mouth scramble. The  Eastbourne keeper flapped at the ball as it came over and everyone seemed to stop for a split second, before diving into the scramble, where a Sidley boot poked the ball into the net.

As the match progressed, Sidley started to drop deeper as they started to tire and it looked as though Eastbourne might overrun the home team in the last 20 minutes. However, Sidley seemed to get a "second wind" and in fact finished the match strongly, scoring a third goal from a direct free kick which was clinically despatched into the top corner.

All in all, a good performance from the new look Sidley; 3 goals and a clean sheet as well, was well deserved. The experience of (in particular) Kevin Rose in goal with Lee Short and Ian May at the back made for a solid defence and promises to be hard to beat.

A great start, and a confidence builder for the coming season which we can't wait to get started. Come on you Blues!

Next up is a home match against Eastbourne Rangers on Saturday 16th August at 2.00pm.

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