A strong looking Civil Service FC squad made the long trip down to Weston for the latest of the team’s pre-season friendlies. With a few players making their first appearance of the campaign, it was pleasing to see the Servicemen dominate the opening proceedings with Judd, Leonard and Gaywood all having good chances eventually some more tidy football saw Gaywood open his account for the season and put Service 1-0 ahead. Some good passing and movement continued to see the away side dominate and Leonard added to the lead with a bursting run through the heart of the Weston defence.

The early lead, substitutions and the team’s domination, led to a certain amount of complacency within the side and the standard of play dropped considerably and Weston took full advantage by scoring direct from a free kick on the edge of the box. The goal did spark a little more life into Civil Service and a few chances were created for Morgan and Gaywood but no more goals were added before half time.

After the break a slightly improved Service continued to cause problems and were denied by several ‘close’ offside decisions before a scrappy third goal was added after the keeper fumbled a cross from a Paul Kaye free kick and after excellent pressure from Reece Calder, Chris Gaywood was on hand to stab the ball home.

This pretty much led to Weston collapsing but a heated argument amongst their own team took much of the tempo and though Civil Service had a goal disallowed for offside and they created several chances with Jelfs and Kaye both squandering excellent opportunities the score finished 3-1.

Overall a very disappointing performance but some positives to take were the excellent opening spell which was a vast improvement on the opening 20 minutes at Holme Lacey previously and a very assured performance from Reece Calder at the heart of the defence.

Team: Gay, Jelfs, T.Calder, Ridley, Simms, Leonard, Judd, Jones, Morris, Morgan, Gaywood

Subs: R.Calder, Johnson, Kaye, Sadler