1st game of the season, on one of the warmest days of the year, would he football be just as scintillating?

The boys started brightly, despite some early season rustiness, we were working hard, especially off the ball and trying to re-establish relationships.

Captain Harry Spriggs and fellow midfielder Stanley Potter looked most likely to find that through ball, often to the feet of Bradley Kingston or in behind for the speedy Max King to attack.

Alleyns repulsed attack after attack. Striker Nathan Argo couldn’t get the ball from under his feet And we hit the post - twice!

Then we conceded a silly penalty for handball. Thankfully GK Luke Pritchard was more than equal to the task and comfortably saved it. 0-0 at half time.

The second half brought more of the same until Alleyns broke the deadlock when Oscar Verlander (now in goal) bravely came out and cleared, but the ball struck their strikers head and rebounded into the goal. Alleyns now had their tails up and in the last 5 minutes scored 3 more as their better fitness and larger squad meant they had more energy on the field.

All the goals came via ricochets or balls that bobbled in the box and we didn’t clear.

A solid start, with a disappointing result, but plenty to build on for the rest of the year.