A much-changed Surbiton Town FC hosted Alexandra United Athletic for what acted as an inaugural pre-season game for both clubs. Despite being a new club in the division, Alexandra are a phoenix club that rose from last seasons’ opponents Reigate Road Rangers, featuring many familiar players – last season the Surb took away 4 points from our fixtures against them, with Reigate earning a hard-fought point away from home.

Despite this, the Surb clearly dominated the early stages of the game, with thanks to debutant Aaron Sweeney’s commanding presence at the heart of a back three. An early blow to the Surb came when target man Shab Khosravi twisted his knee about 5 minutes into the game, ending both his afternoon and ruling him out for up to 6 weeks.

Surbiton took the lead through a goal for Charlie Banks, playing a slightly more attacking role as Elliott Hogan entered the field for the injured Shab – a calm finish from a man that was still feeling the effects of the previous night, for want of a better explanation.

A fluke goal followed for Alexandra, with a cross being caught in a gust of wind, wrong footing both the outfield players from both teams and goalkeeper Sam Baxter before floating into the back of the Surbiton net. At half time the score remained 1-1 with both teams offering attacking threat, although the scoreline was perhaps flattering for Alexandra considering the chances Surbiton had squandered as the first half drew on.

The second half saw a host of players trial new positions following some slight knocks, with Dan Shortt replacing the fatigued Niall Murphy on the left flank. A second goal followed as another debutant alongside his brother, Niall Sweeney, deftly knocked home a fizzing ball across the six-yard box.

Niall Murphy re-entered the fray and provided a pin-point cross to Charlie Banks who was unlucky not to finish, followed by a similar error by Elliott Hogan who had uptaken the traditional number 9 position. Baxter produced a save of the highest calibre to deny Alexandra, before unluckily letting the ball squirm through his legs following an Alexandra set piece and a goal-mouth scramble.

Charlie Banks had run himself ragged and needed a rest for the final 10 minutes, leaving Hogan and Shortt to sit up-top as perhaps the slowest centre forward pairing since Heskey & Crouch appeared alongside one another in the England set-up. Despite the unconventional strike force, Surbiton were able to force a winner through Tom Keely, who wrong-footed a defender before calmly dispatching a chipped effort into the far-left corner of the Alexandra net, leaving the goalkeeper with no chance of redemption.

The final few minutes of the game saw an assured performance from Surbiton at the back, and despite a yellow card for Luke Snowdon on the right flank (£5 fine pending), remained relatively uneventful, despite Faisal Khan’s best efforts to play the centre-forwards in over the top of the Alexandra defensive line. All in all a good day for the Surb at this early stage of the season, featuring a team heavily consisting of hangovers, debutants and the unfit.

Surbiton Town Matchday Squad: S. Baxter, A. Banks, D. Shortt, A. Sweeney, N. Murphy, T. Keely, C. Brown, N. Sweeney, M. Brown, S. Khosravi, C. Banks, L. Snowdon, E. Hogan, F. Khan.

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