Canterbury’s second game of the season came with great anticipation as they were scheduled to play a strong developing East Grinstead team who among some of their household names have recently signed Nick Catlin, GB International, into their ranks and looked to be a strong team.

Canterbury’s young side were looking to improve on last week’s performance at Hampstead and Westminster and knew that they could put up a strong fight against their opponents who they played only two weeks prior in a pre-season friendly.

Canterbury were not without their own signings as centre-back and Australian International, Kris Glass joined the squad in the week for his debut performance. He quickly showed his comfort on the pitch with some strong tackles, high quality distribution and dominance of his position in the early minutes of the game which started at a high intensity with attacks, initially from E.G. but the first real goal scoring chance coming from Canterbury after some good defending from Sean Gilmore led to a counter attack which James Oates narrowly missed at the near post. A similar chance quickly fell to E.G after some nice linking between their midfield and forwards.

The game began to open up, but neither side really creating any golden opportunities. The home crowd and the team’s positive intentions and hard work was looking to pay off as Canterbury were spending more time in the E.G half and snuffing out any attacks with a good press and resilient defending.

Eventually the resilient defensive work and a good interception from Tom Bean mounted another attack and Canterbury’s efforts paid off with a goal from their first short corner after 12 minutes, converted by Kris Glass who rifled the ball low and hard with a drag flick into the left corner.

E.G looked to bounce back but again proved to be lacking as Canterbury soaked up in defence; a turnover and breakaway chance saw link up between Craig Boyne and Tom Bean resulting in Bean’s second goal in as many games as he swept the ball under the charging GK in the 15^th minute and Canterbury looked to be heading in a great direction.

The second half and both teams continued to attack and defend well, a great save on the line by E.G defender Simon Faulkner from a short corner denied a strong Tom Bean flick to prevent the home side extending their lead in the 39^th minute. More possession for Canterbury followed and with a bit more focus they may well have scored again.

However, somewhat against the tide, the next goal fell to the opposition, from a short corner, and was put away by Robert Schenk, a tidy flick into the left side netting in the 45^th minute. This appeared to give E.G a great boost, and after a short period of possession from Canterbury a break away and tidy finish from Dom Bowden in the roof of the net from a short range flick drew E.G level after 46 minutes.

Canterbury looked somewhat deflated and due to what appeared to be a lapse in concentration and another quick turnover after the restart saw E.G take the lead in the 47^th minute and Wes Jackson got on the end of a cross from the wide right edge of the D.

E.G kept possession well now and Canterbury struggled to get back in the game. A short corner in the 50^th and 60^th minutes were Canterbury’s best chances after the goals but E.G looked more comfortable in the game now and created a few chances.

Canterbury tried hard to get back into the game but another short corner conversion from Schenk saw E.G take a two goal lead leaving only 5 minutes to retract the deficit. A great individual carry from James Oates to set up a goal from Craig Boyne in the 67^th gave Canterbury some hope but it was too little too late and the game finished 4-3 to East Grinstead.

A great effort from the men in green and white who showed their ability throughout the game but what appeared to be a 3 minute lapse that let East Grinstead in and a disappointing finish for Canterbury in their first home fixture. Canterbury travel away to a strong Surbiton side this weekend and hope to earn their first points of the season.

Images courtesy of Ady Kerry