AFC BINLEY MANAGER EDWIN GREAVES ASSESSES HIS TEAM'S 2-1 WIN v COVENTRY SKY BLUES...

"The last 7 to 8 weeks have gone by so quickly at AFC Binley but the pre-season is finally over.

We have had mixed pre-season results but the performances from the lads have been fairly consistent.

Everything was geared towards this game, at the start of a new season.

The opposition, Coventry Sky Blues, I knew nothing about but I later found out that they are a young talented bunch of players who certainly know how to play football.

The game itself saw Coventry Sky Blues start slightly the better of the two sides but they never really troubled Tony Johnson in goal with their long range shots.

We took the lead in the 22nd minute when a pass from Blake Kassar set Tyler Morgan free to finish in style with a low shot: 1-0. We doubled our lead in the 36th minute when more good work from Blake Kassar saw his pass find Fabian Spence who again finished in style: 2-0.

Coventry Sky Blues hit back straight away after being awarded a disputed penalty in the 38th minute: 2-1.

We then had a penalty appeal ourselves turned down before half-time.

The 2nd half as expected was a little more open with players on both sides getting tired and making mistakes.

We thought we had scored our 3rd goal but Aaron Leming's header was ruled not to have crossed the line.

We also hit a post and had a shot cleared off the line, but we just could not finish Coventry Sky Blues off. No more goals then but a nice win for us to start the season off.

In summing up this game:

Coventry Sky Blues, although having been together as a side at youth level, this was their 1st adult men's game and they should be very proud of themselves. For the whole 90 minutes they kept going and on another day could have easily got a point out of this game.

For me, we just about did enough to win this game. Our best football was played in the 1st half and we scored 2 good goals.

In the 2nd half we defended well as a unit and kept Coventry Sky Blues to long range shots. We stuck together which pleased me greatly as a new side still trying to learn each others' strengths but I am so pleased to get the 1st 3 points next to our name.

The start of the season is very hectic so it's all about preparing for our next game now.

Up next for us is FC Polonia Coventry at home on Tuesday night, 6pm kick-off.

Hopefully we will improve our play over 90 minutes and get another positive result."

Edwin Greaves 

AFC Binley manager.