The Chard Men’s 2nd XI took to the field with a few of our usual stalwarts missing – primarily to help boost numbers in the 1st team. But we were very pleased to welcome back Simon Green from a toddler-fuelled hiatus and new recruit, Ben Simmonds. The team were full of enthusiasm for the start of the new season, which itself will be different, with seven opponents in our league who we will each play three times.

Chard started well, creating lots of momentum attacking into the opposition’s territory, with well-strung passes and dynamic runs from Jasper Clements and Ben Simmonds up the middle, great use of the wings by Isaac Parris, Blaise Marchant and Ben Berryman. Joel Handscomb and James Rees applied the pressure further, with Joel in particular making some great runs and fearless invasions into the D.

Thanks so this momentum, we were rewarded with a number of short corners, one of which was finished convincingly by Ben Simmonds, taking us 1-0 ahead. A number of other great opportunities were created, but unfortunately we were not able to capitalise. Shortly before half-time, Minehead scored a goal back in one of their few incursions into our D in the first half. Despite this, we went into the goalmouth talk feeling positive about our performance so far.

Sadly, the second half saw our fortunes change, despite a relatively evenly-matched contest in midfield and solid defending from the experienced foursome of Eames, Dare, Green and Switzer, as well as some great saves from Luke Bradshaw. Some of the things we had been doing well in the first half – the scything runs, snappy passing and tight marking - appeared to fall by the wayside as we succumbed to Minehead’s pressure and our own tired legs. The Minehead team found chinks in the defence’s armour and were very successful in exploiting their arguably lucky and scrappy opportunities, scoring four more goals. This resulted in a final scoreline of 1-5, which didn’t really reflect the balance of play throughout the game.

Despite the defeat, we feel encouraged by our performance in this first match of what promises to be a very tough season.