HUGHES HAPPY WITH UNITED’S SCORCHING SHOW
HUGHES HAPPY WITH TEAM’S TEMPO
PAUL HUGHES’ Hayes & Yeading side eased to a 3-0 win against Wessex Leaguers Brockenhurst in their latest pre-season friendly - and the boss is happy with his preparations so far.
Upbeat Hughes was more than satisfied with the day’s events on another blisteringly hot afternoon as his players got more minutes under their belts.
“It was another scorching day but it didn’t hamper the tempo we wanted the players to play at,” he said.
“We were very happy with the energy they showed for large parts of the game.
“Brockenhurst are a good outfit and I’m sure they’ll do well in their league next season. It was a competitive run out for us which helped us highlight a couple of things to work on in training this week.
“Some of the finishing was excellent and if we can keep those standards throughout the season then we will be very happy.”
United could not have got off to a better start, taking just 59 seconds to open the scoring as Jack Roper laid the ball off to Scott Bridges, the United midfielder crashing the ball home from fully 25 yards.
The United lead was soon doubled with former U18s skipper Roper again involved, this time the young midfielder made a good run and looked to be about to head home a Toby Little cross when he was barged from behind, leaving the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Duncan Culley stepped up and confidently sent the home stopper the wrong way.
With the home side rarely looking like troubling Luke Daley in the United goal early on, United could have had another as Little received the ball on the left and, having spotted the ‘keeper off his line, aimed for the far top corner only for a fine fingertip save to deny him as the ball just cleared the bar.
The hosts had their chances, but it stayed 2-0 at the break.
Manny Duku came close to making it 3-0 with a downward header which was touched over the bar.
United finally hit a third with five minutes remaining as Ismael Ehui collected on the edge of the box and rifled a low drive through a crowd into the bottom corner of the unsighted keeper’s net, with the game ending soon after in a 3-0 victory for United.
United continue their pre-season campaign when they travel to fellow Southern League play-off semi-finalists AFC Dunstable on Saturday in a 3pm KO, before a more local trip to Harrow Borough on Tuesday July 24.
The Isthmian League fixtures were announced last week and United open with an away trip to Cheshunt on August 11 followed by a home fixture on August 18 against Egham Town.