Day 79

The Reserves played a friendly against Buxton today, and they nearly scored straight from the kick off. Pacquette walked through the Buxton defence and laid the ball sideways to Lloyd-McGoldrick, whose shot was too close to the keeper.

The main purpose of the friendly was to give match fitness to Halstead, Robson, and Taylor. Halstead started brilliantly, flying to his left to keep the scores level on 11 minutes.

Buxton took the lead on 26 minutes when the hapless Rawdon put the ball into his own net—a cross rebounded off him and past Halstead, who could perform no heroics this time.

They doubled their lead in the 41st minute. Sinclair was lax in his marking duties, and Barraclough moved unnoticed into space on the edge of the area. Parker played to his feet, and the striker had time to turn and shoot—his finish too good for Halstead.

Pacquette missed an easy chance to close up the margin after 50 minutes, but he put his shot wide. Then Weaver climbed high to convert a corner from Ryan Taylor in the 54th minute.

Buxton held on for a deserved 2-1 victory. My Reserves once again disappoint, despite some moments of promise.

I scheduled another friendly for them in five days (against a team called Dinnington Town). Halstead and Robson still need more game time before they'll be ready to challenge for a first-team place.