St Neots Town F.C.
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The Saints ended their pre-season with an excellent performance against higher grade opposition to earn back to back victories at Rowley Park.

The early evening showers appeared to set the tone for the night when Sudbury scored in the second minute. The ball struck Steve Dogbe, who has been showing good form in pre-season, on the arm and Heath converted the resulting spot kick.

This rocked the hosts who took some 15 minutes to get back into the game, up to this point Sudbury played their best football with the Saints on the back foot. Despite Sudbury's dominance the Saints defence stood firm allowing the attacking players to get back into the game.

The mesmerising Tony Scully turned a couple of defenders inside out before crossing for Liam Harrold to score with a header from inside the 6 yard box. That's 3 goals in 3 games for Harrold. This signalled a change in fortunes and it was the Saints who now gained control bossing play around the Park.

The second half opened with Sozzo going close on 2 occasions. Cutts the Sudbury keeper was now the busiest player on the pitch, he was suffering over exposure and must have been wondering where had his defence gone.

Steve Lomas freshened things up by introducing a number of substitutes. The towering, 17 year old, Jordan Gent replaced Nicky Hurst. He slipped into the right back berth allowing Dogbe to partner Fuff at the centre of the defence. Gent coped well in an unfamiliar position on his first team debut.

With Fox replacing Sozzo, who had tweaked a hamstring and Bassett replacing Harrold the visiting defenders were wrong if they thought that they could take a breather. The new strike partnership injected more pace and energy closing the Sudbury defence at every opportunity.

The second goal was inevitable as the Saints piled on the pressure. A right wing cross saw no fewer than 5 Saints forwards queuing to put the ball in the back of the net. Rocco forced himself in front of his colleagues and the static defence to force the ball home.

Anyone who left early would be disappointed as the Saints capped a fine display of dominant attacking football by scoring a third goal at the death. Lee Bassett who had re-discovered his goal scoring touch playing for the reserves the previous Saturday made it 3-1. He latched onto a weak defensive header then charged towards goal to place his shot past the despairing Cutts.

• Team: McShane, Dogbe, Hurst, Fuff, Lodge, Scully, Hyem, Knight, Okai, Harrold, Sozzo
• Subs: Fox (Sozzo), Bassett ( Harrold), Kenneford ( Scully), Rocco ( Okai), Colmer ( Hyem), Gent (Hurst)
• Man of Match:

Match date: Tue 4th August 2009