Friendly win illustrates impact being made by Blues’ management team

Burnham's management team must have been heartily encouraged by Saturday's 4-1 friendly win over league rivals Windsor as they look to build on what's been a largely positive start for them at the club.

The Blues are unbeaten since Ben Murray and his assistant Kavi Luchowa took over the reins from Manny Williams last month, winning two of their first three matches and drawing the other.

Burnham had been hammered 5-0, 8-0 and 3-0 in consecutive matches before Williams stepped aside and Murray and Luchowa’s coaching and management style appears to have had an immediate impact on the team.

In their first match they overcame improving Holyport thanks to Dwayne Clarke's stunning late strike in a 3-2 win, and they shrugged of the disappointment of conceding late on to draw 1-1 with Tadley Calleva when they battled back from two goals down to beat promotion challenging North Greenford United 5-4 in their last match.

With no scheduled fixture on Saturday, the Blues fixed up a friendly with local rivals Windsor, and Murray and Luchowa will have been much happier than Windsor boss Mark Cooper after what was a well-contested friendly.

Jayden Moore netted a hattrick for the Blues, and he'll now been keen to see if he can transform that kind of form into the league, with the Blues set to visit the side just below them in the Combined Counties Premier Division Table, Spelthorne Sports, on Saturday.

The friendly also enabled Murray and Luchowa to try out a few new players, different systems, and tactics as they seek to find a winning formula for the remainder of the season. It seems very unlikely they'll be dragged back into a relegation scrap and - although they'll have one eye on being much more competitive next season - they’ll also be looking for a top half finish this season.

“That was one of the main reasons for getting the friendly booked in,”said Luchowa.. “With Ben (Murray) and I just coming in, we want to get to know players and what they can do. So, we started quite a few different boys this weekend - Jayden (Moore) our winger got a hat-trick so if there is one way to show what you can do, that was it. So, it is good for us to see it.”