Pre Season Friendlies x 2
at Little Haw Lane, Shepshed
Ingles Res (0) 0 v Holbrook St. Michaels Res (3) 5 - 1PM
Ingles (3) 3 v Holbrook St. Michaels (2) 3 - 3PM
Photo gallery from both games: CLICK HERE
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| I bet you wish your team had it's own personalised wheeliebin |
Formed in 1972, Shepshed based side Ingles FC won the Leicestershire Senior League Premier Division on goal difference over second placed Bardon Hill at the end of last season and gained promotion into the EMCL, where they will ground share and play home games at 'the Dovecote', the nearby 2,500 capacity ground of their Midland League Premier Division neighbours Shepshed Dynamo.
But today's game was played at Ingles tidy enclosure on Little Haw Lane, which has a spacious dressing room complex and a neatly painted fence running all the way around a well tended pitch, sporting the club's colours of red and white.
This afternoon's visitors, Holbrook St. Michaels, ply their trade in the CMFL (South), where they finished in twelfth place last season.
During the pre-match warm up, the Ingles Reserves manager had said that: "It's not about the result or winning today, it's just about getting your fitness level up for when the season starts"... and he was 100% correct, of course, but probably hadn't envisaged been three goals down inside the first half a hour, after the Saints stiffs had cut through their hosts defence three times during an eighteen minute spell.
The Ingles second string rallied and made a decent game of it from then on in, as a fairly high tempo game unfolded, with a sensible amount of water breaks thrown in, given the soaring temperatures and a lack of shade.
Late in the game, the visitors picked Ingles off with two more late goals, including one in the very last minute of the opening game, while the two first teams went through their pre-match routines on the adjacent field that is also part of this well appointed complex.
FT: Ingles Reserves 0 v Holbrook St. Michaels Reserves 5
Ingles ECML side looked like a far different prospect for Holbrook to tackle as they cruised into a two goal lead, only for the Derbyshire based side, to pull level with two goals in quick succession, but the home side were back in front just before half time.
Once again, the pace of the game was decent, especially to say that both sides were playing for the first time in a while, on an uncomfortably humid afternoon... and Holbrook scored the only goal of the second half with twelve minutes remaining, after having had a lot of play in and around the final third, around the Ingles penalty area.
FT: Ingles 3 v Holbrook St. Michaels 3
A good run out for all concerned, in preparation for when it all starts for real in a month or so's time... and a flying start to the season of two games, eleven goals and a new tick ground-wise for both myself and my sidekick for the day, a Lincoln City fan, who is also a mainstay and junior partner for the Women's World Football Show and does a lot to champion/promote the women's game from grass roots level through to the England international team, namely: Adam Barlow, AKA @ferretimp
Good luck to all four teams (who all put a shift and a half in today) for the forthcoming 2018-19 campaign.
