By London Falcons manager Craig Randall
Erith 147 FC 4 London Falcons 1
LUFL• Saturday, 23rd February, 2008 • New Eltham

This was a very proud day for London Falcons Football Club. We played our very first F.A. affiliated match against Kent County League 2nd division opposition Erith 147 in a friendly in preparation for a F.A. League next season.

Falcons were at the pitch nice and early and were properly prepared to go when the referee blew the whistle to mark a famous day for our club.

Erith came out of the traps very early on, looking to heap the pressure on our defence at all times. It was fair to say we looked like rabbits in headlights to start with and never really recovered until we were 2-0 down. But then we started to work a bit harder and the game evened out a bit more. Erith still dominated though but we were starting to compete now and that was a promising thing.

Our shape wasn't great at any point and both our full backs were exposed for large periods of the game. Our central midfield didn't work especially well but we kept going.

Erith also had a huge mountain of a striker who caused all sorts of problems throughout the game and was brilliant and even had Walton been present, I reckon he would've been properly tested.

The second half saw Falcons up the gear a bit more and started getting chances, we were 3-0 eventually though and then 4-0 and I was pleased to see our lads still looking to give their all. Eventually though, James Edeki scored Falcons first affiliated goal to make the scoreline respectable.

This game will serve as an important insight to what to expect next season. Even after our defeat against Village Manchester in the cup semi final, this game was a much higher level game, our oppoents were fast, fit, strong and skillful across the park for the whole game. It was a joy to be involved with and I can see a very promising future ahead of us.

We'd like to say thank you very much to Erith 147 for agreeing to play this game, we wish you all the best for the rest of the season and hopefully in the not so distant future, play again.

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images by James Dyke