Brighton Bandits finally got some reward for their efforts in their first ever eleven-a-side win, against a useful Stonewall 4th team. The match took place on a sun-drenched but chilly Preston Park, hopefully our new ground for home fixtures. As this was a friendly game it provided an ideal opportunity to 'blood' three new players, David Hodgson, Jamie Harper and Freddie Moorhead, all of whom put in excellent performances. Stonewall started the strongest, pressurising the Bandits goal and testing stand-in 'keeper, Andy Penford, in the opening minutes. However it wasn't long before Brighton opened the scoring. In the 13th minute, an excellent passing move saw Hodgson force the Stonewall 'keeper to parry a shot which was powered into the net by Simon Hawker. Stonewall came back strongly and it wasn't long before an equaliser came from a rare defensive error in the 22nd minute.

At this point yours truly decided it was time to be substituted, a move which proved to be the turning point of the game. The introduction of Daryn Vanstone gave the Bandits more control down the right wing and allowed Alan Bannister, Harper and Hodgson to make some penetrating runs and excellent crosses. Only two minutes after the Stonewall equaliser, a fantastic pass from Hawker put Bannister into space. With the option of passing to Harper who was breaking to his left, Bannister decided to chip the keeper and scored the goal of the game. After this, the floodgates opened, with Hawker scoring a second in the 37th minute and Paul Saunders adding a further goal on 44 minutes, to send the Bandits in at half-time with a 4-1 lead.

The second half was much more evenly matched, with Stonewall coming out determined to improve their performance. After a solid first 45 minutes in defence, Moorhead took over the goalkeeper's jersey and was forced to make some equally excellent saves. Stonewall had a goal disallowed for a foul on the 'keeper, whilst at the other end Hawker missed a superb chance to secure his hat-trick. There were also chances for Vanstone and some skillful runs by Garry Rickett. The only goal of the half came 2 minutes into stoppage time when a couple of sliced clearances allowed Stonewall the chance to score a soft consolation second.

Overall, this has to be one of the best Bandits performances so far. Central defenders Paul Smith and captain Steve Taylor were magnificent throughout the entire match, and the introduction of Hodgson and Harper into midfield opened up new options for creative passing play. Despite the late Stonewall goal, the win was well-deserved and bodes well for future GFSN League matches. My man of the match - Simon Hawker, for two well taken goals and a perfect pass to set up Bannister's chip.