Hendon visited Uxbridge for their latest pre-season friendly, and lost by 2 goals to 0. The Green's line-up included a number of trialists, but only two unknowns who had not played for the club in previous seasons, although both have played in previous PSFs this summer.
Most trialists were known by name, but have yet to put pen to paper for this season - four of them were making their first pre-season appearance, while five played for the club last season, four of them in the latter part of the season.
Hendon started well, managing to strike the frame of Uxbridge's goal twice within the first ten minutes. Unfortunately for them, Uxbridge scored their first goal after nine minutes when an attacker got clear and gave Hendon's goalkeeper no chance.
Having scored, Uxbridge took control for most of the first half. They had several pacey, willing runners in attack, who made use of balls over the top of the Grren's defence or into channels to cause problems for the visitors. Hendon's goalkeeper, who has signed for the club though so far unannounced on social media or the website, was kept busythroughout the half and, not for the first time in pre-season, kept the opponents' score to a reasonable level.
Just before the interval Niko Muir found himself in clear space on the edge of the Uxbridge penalty area, but unfortunately shot just wide of the goal. Uxbridge led 1-0 at the interval.
Hendon made three changes at half-time, and five more around the hour mark. These changes strengthened the defence, but slightly weakened midfield and attack.
One further change was made with 13 minutes to go, when Stephan Langley was injured and had to be replaced. Shortly before this Uxbridge scored their second goal when a forward broke away, rounded the Hendon 'keeper, and scored, though the Greens' management felt thst the forward was offside when he received the ball.
In general, midfield and attack look promising, though a potential over-reliance on Niko Muir scoring the goals must be avoided. The defence, however, needs to be resolved quickly, as so far it has cracked and/or made mistakes under pressure which have cost goals. Some of the defenders from the end of last season have yet to play together in pre-season, let alone sign for the new season; if they sign, this should provide the stronger defence so far rarely seen by the writer during these warm up matches.