Greens falter against Needham

IAN Benjamin said he was happy with his sides’ progress despite going down 2-0 to Needham Market in their last pre-season friendly on Saturday.

IAN Benjamin said he was happy with his sides’ progress despite going down 2-0 to Needham Market in their last pre-season friendly on Saturday.

A couple of defensive errors early in the first half all but gifted the game to Needham in front of a decent crowd at Julius Martin Lane but despite the reverse the Green’s boss said he expected his charges to come good against Uxbridge at the weekend.

“We were suffering from a bit of a lack of concentration in the first half and we ended up giving them two goals but I think we focused in the second half and looked sharp.

“In terms of fitness I think the lads will raise it a level for Saturday’s game and overall I am happy with how preparations have gone in pre-season though I would have liked one more friendly.”

Needham took the lead after 15 minutes as midfielder Craig Parker found acres of space in the Soham box to fire home low past Allen in goal.

Soham reacted meekly to the setback and soon found themselves further behind as a half-cleared corner fell at the feet of captain Rhys Barber who made no mistake from 10 yards.

Having fallen two goals behind, Soham finally rallied and might have pulled a goal back through Shawn Richards after 30 minutes but for wanton finishing from the young midfielder when faced with only the keeper to beat.

A number of changes in the second half livened things up for Soham and Luke Hipwell’s introduction into the midfield added much needed bite.

It was Hipwell who had the chance of the half for Soham after 65 minutes when he was played clear by Dubi Ogbonna but a poor first touch took the midfielder into the path of a scurrying defender to spurn an excellent opportunity.