Blazey in form for season's start
News Archive > Sport > Blazey in form for season's start
St Blazey manager Glynn Hooper has his eyes firmly set on the club’s first game of the season as they prepare for a trip to Dartmouth to kick start their new season.
The green and blacks make the 138-mile round trip to Longcross on Saturday and Hooper will be hoping for a similar performance to the one which saw them defeat local rivals St Austell 3-1 in the Phil Smith memorial match.
Goals from Aaron Dilley, Richard Maddison and Danny Zalick allowed for Hooper’s side to fight back and retain the trophy and Hooper told the Voice: “I think overall, we probably deserved the outcome. We missed a few chances but St Austell caused us problems by playing on the break.
“But again it’s a new side and we didn’t get it just right first half. But we made a couple of subtle changes and for me that’s great when you make changes and they come off.”
One of these changes saw Richard Maddison replace winger Josh Higman, returning to his former club and it was Maddison who fired Blazey in front for the first time in the contest within minutes of coming off the bench.
Hooper went on to add: “Credit to our lads, after going one nil down they came back really strongly and it showed already that there is a bit of character in that changing room.
“St Austell obviously gave an awful lot into the game, but once we went 2-1 up we looked reasonably conformable.
“Ok they (St Austell) made changes and we made changes but it’s a pre-season game, it’s probably six games into the season when you actually get to your full fitness.”
St Austell manager Glyn Rowett was also pleased with his side’s performance and added: “It was great to see a large crowd of local supporters from the area supporting both sides and the memory of Phil.
“It was clear that St Blazey were more ahead in their preparations for the season which starts for them one week earlier than us on Saturday.
“With a couple of key players out I thought we matched St Blazey well up until the last 15 when we showed that our match fitness was not perhaps up to theirs.
“We did however learn a lot from this game and will be working hard to improve before our start of the season.
“I wish to congratulate Glynn and his team and I wish them all the best for the season.”
Hooper went on to add: “I can’t wait for the first game away to Dartmouth, a similar performance and result and I would be very happy, we’ve got a couple of suspensions and one or two who may be unavailable but I’ve got a big squad at the moment and that is going to be needed over the next couple of weeks.”
St Blazey start at Dartmouth on Saturday, kick-off will be at 3pm.
