Newly promoted Brentwood headed to Colchester aiming to start their season's campaign in East Div 1 with a win.

The game started cautiously with few decisive chances going either way. Brentwood conceded a few early penalty-corners but managed to keep the threat out; whilst failing themselves to convert the precious few chances they had up-front, notably a 2 on 1 which was smothered by the keeper. The half ended goalless with the teams testing each other and trying to stretch the play, with the only real chance going Brentwood's way.

The second half began with a much more lively tone. Colchester believed they had grabbed the opener as the ball was deflected into the roof of Brentwood's net, however this was disallowed as the ball had been deflected off a Colchester foot. Spurred on by the wake-up call, Brentwood attacked with more intent that had been missing in the first half, spending extended periods in the Colchester half; searching for that final ball into the circle. That chance came as James Duggan got a touch on the end of a cross, deflecting the ball into the top of the Colchester net. Brentwood failed to fully capitalise on their advantage and shortly handed one back to Colchester, as they failed to keep out a penalty-corner that took a deflection and was volleyed into the Brentwood goal. Sloppy passing and giving the ball away cheaply cost Brentwood and kept them on the back foot as Colchester earned another corner which again was converted. Brentwood pushed hard for the equaliser with Alex Henderson asking questions of the Colchester defence and winning a penalty-corner, which arguably could have been a penalty-flick, after he was pushed over in a scoring position by a defender. The result was still the same, as Steven Naven cooly slotted home from the top of the circle with a powerful shot to the corner of the goal. Again Brentwood failed to close out the game and Colchester were awarded a dubious penalty corner. A slick routine found a man on the post who deflected the ball in. There was still time to score for Brentwood, who threw everything at the Colchester defence. In the dying minutes of the game, Brentwood won a free-hit in the Colchester 25. Adrian Guilder took a self pass before firing the ball into the circle for débutante Jak Taylor to make a fine finish. As Brentwood celebrated, the goal was overturned by the umpire who adjudged the ball not to have travelled the mandatory 5 metres before being hit in the circle. Brentwood contested this, although there was nothing more that could be done.

The game ended 3-2 in Colchester's favour and left Brentwood to rue missed chances and unlucky decisions. Brentwood deserved at least a consolidatory  point, although the performance they put in showed many positives in terms of work rate and ethic to take forward into next week. Brentwood showed that they were able to cope with the challenges of Division 1 and look to bounce back next week in search of their first points of the season.

See Captain Teale's pre-season newspaper report here:

http://www.brentwoodgazette.co.uk/Teale-ready-opener-Colchester/story-22932360-detail/story.html