The Eagles open the new season with a draw!

With the new 2023/24 season underway The Eagles start with a visit from Guildford City Hurricanes who were relegated from the Premier Division last term while we were promoted from Division One after winning the division.

The Eagles lined up with Jayden in goal, Jack, Kofi and Kallum complete the back 3 while Zak, Ikenna, Mason, Karma and Riley made up the midfield 5, Vincent dropped back a tad and played in the 10 role while William (C) applied the pressure from up top!

The game started fast for The Eagles as they started with lots of energy and played some really nice football, a looping ball was lofted over the Guildford back line for Big Vince to burst through and rifle in his first goal of the season giving The Eagles a 1-0 lead after 5 minutes. Bedfont seemed comfortable but in the 15th minute Guildford broke down the right flank, Kallum just standing off his man for a brief second allowed the attacker to drive in the box and poke the ball through Jayden's legs, 1-1. On the 28th minute Ikenna then got in on the act with and unbelievable effort from long range which found its way into the top right corner, 2-1.

HT - BEFC 2-1 GCFC

With the second half underway The Eagles were looking to put the game to bed, very much dominating the game it felt like only a matter of time before we added more goals to the score line. Against the run of play Guildford hit The Eagles on the counter and punished us for not finishing our chances to level the score 2-2. With 20 minutes left of the game The Eagles really stepped up the tempo and Guildford didn't leave their half for the duration of that time, it seemed like one of those days where we could have had 3/4 hours of shooting and not found the back of the net but on another day we would have walked away 6/7 goals up!

FT - BEFC 2-2 GCFC

Overall lots of positives to take from todays game, Donald returning to the side is a massive positive, myself and all the boys were over the moon to see Donald back in a Eagles shirt! Furthermore Guildford are a tough side yet we dominated the game from minute 1 to the last. Given this is our first season at 11 aside these fine margins will be the difference in games as the boys will come to find out but we also have to take our chances, anyone who follows The Eagles U13s knows we have plenty of goals in us, so getting that little tighter at the back we would have seen this game out comfortably but with experience this will come for the lads!

MOTM in my opinion was Ikenna, since we made the jump from 9 aside to 11 aside Ikenna has found his home in this new holding midfield position, Ikenna has been outstanding and really proving to be a difference maker in games! Keep the hard work up Ikenna and there will be many more MOTM performances coming!

Big thank you to Guildford City, was a pleasure to host you at the Rec, great bunch of lads who work really hard for each other and will cause a lot of teams problems throughout the season. Looking forward to the return fixture at your place!