Report by Dan Legg
Recruiting both young and experience players alongside some familiar faces from Steve Bateman’s playoff escapades.

After a testing pre-season with some pleasing results, today the Moles kicked off the 2017/18 season with a trip to the SkyEx Community Stadium to take on a Hayes and Yeadingside which suffered had relegation from the Southern Premier last year, their third relegation in five years.. There was an air of scepticism amongst the travelling FC supporters going into this curtain raiser. However, the new look FC team started the better of the two sides, seeing good spells of early pressure, territory and possession, however, Hayes and Yeading weren’t giving FC an inch, defending well to cut out the killer balls that would unlock the red wall.

Hayes began to find their way into the game midway through the first half, with the first shot of note falling to Manny Dukuon 17 minutes, whose goal-bound effort was blocked superbly by Jordan Jenkins. This was a shock to the FC system, who had controlled the game prior to this, and on 30 minutes the attacking impetus was back with the Moles. Aston Goss stole the ball deep in midfield, beat a few defenders with his tricky feet, before drilling a low shot at the Hayes stopper Jack Smith.

The best chance of the half fell to Ty Deacon who was fed through by Jeanmal Prosper following a poor clearance from Smith in the Hayes net, however, he atoned for his error, by saving Deacon’s low, powerful shot. Deacon was then booked for an alleged elbow on the stroke of half time. The game lacked any real tempo, and the nil-nil score line reflected this.

The second half saw the game kick into life. Hayes and Yeading took the lead on 52 minutes after Derek Feyi mistimed his clearance, slicing it to Danny Blanchett who was waiting at the back post who cushioned a header down to Ismael Ehui who coolly tapped home from a yardout, sending the home fans into raptures.

However, the lead was short lived. On 56 minutes, a corner whipped in by Aston Goss was poorly cleared, the ball fell to the ‘FC engine room’ Jonny Montgomery, who delivered a sublime ball into the unmarked Jeanmal Prosper who chested down and smashed home past a stranded Jack Smith. Game on.The Moles had their tails up at this point, however, rarely tested the Hayes goalkeeper. The best chance of this period fell to Kieron Schmidt after another corner from Aston Goss, however his shot ballooned over the crossbar.

Hayes grew back into the game and had the ball in the FC net not once, but twice, however, both times Manny Duku had unfairly challenged James Weatherhill in the FC goal – who other than picking the ball out of the net had a relatively quiet day.

The final chance of the game came on 87 minutes, where some good defensive work from Montgomery saw FC regain possession, and counter attack with Prosper, who looked to be through on goal, but an unfortunate slip saw Hayes regain their shape and Prosper’s rushed, curling shot was agonisingly wide. The game finished honours even. A point on the board for the Moles, and a solid performance which Davis Haule and his squad can build upon for Tuesday’s home fixture versus Cambridge City
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MOTM: Jonny Montgomery – protected the FC back four all after and picked up a superb assist.
Match Rating: 3/5 – A relatively dull first 45 minutes, followed by a much more exciting second period.