Rovers upbeat despite defeat

A YOUNG Godmanchester Rovers side slipped to a 3-1 defeat in their first game of the season at Swaffham Town.

The kick-off was delayed for 45 minutes following an accident on the A14 which left Rovers with only 10 minutes to get changed and prepared for the match.

The game was the first in charge for new joint Goddy managers Karly Hurst and Eric Cheesewright following the sudden departure of former manager Ian Jackson.

The Rovers team featured just one player over the age of 23 and included Hurst's son Stephen, 19 and nephew David, 18.

Captain Chris Higham, 19, was the only first-team regular from last season in a new-look starting 11.

Rovers showed no ill-effects from their traffic delay and could have been two goals up at half time after squandering some gilt-edged chances against the home goalkeeper.

Swaffham signed three players from Ridgeons Premier high-fliers Sudbury in the close season and their extra class told as they made the most of defensive errors from Godmanchester to score three goals in quick succession and effectively end the tie.

Ray Allen gave Rovers some hope with a looping header from a Paul Bass cross and 18-year-old Jake Burton missed a good chance to pull another goal back, but it was not to be and Rovers came away empty-handed.

Rovers joint manager Hurst said: "We were really, really, encouraged with the performance and all we lacked was a bit of experience.

"Going into the weekend we were a little apprehensive about the game but we've got to be pleased with how the young lads have performed.

"Now we've got two weeks before our next fixture to add some more experienced faces to the squad and really prepare ourselves for a good campaign."

Godmanchester's next fixture is on Wednesday, August 30, when they travel to Saffron Walden Town.