On the hottest day of the year so far Mulbarton faced Poringland Wanderers in the first friendly match of the season, and showed some good signs of things to come.

With 14 players selected everyone was given over 65 minutes to impress, with a few players managing to last 90 minutes in the searing heat. Poringland took the lead before Joe Pattison equalised, latching on to a long clearance from Harvey and heading the ball past Boldestone in the Poringland goal. A couple of errors helped Poringland take a 3-1 lead in the second half before Jamie 'Pike' Butler scored a long range volley and James McCloy struck home a rebound from close range.

There were chances at either end, perhaps the best falling to the home side but we failed to convert and the game finished 3-3.

All in all this was a decent first game for the lads with plenty of players impressing in difficult conditions. It was pleasing to see the new lads integrating well with last season's players and there were plenty of signs throughout the performance that suggests that we have potential to do well this season.

Mulbarton: Tom Harvey, Rudi Hare, Mark Sutcliffe, Gareth Barker, Josh Farrow, David Ramsbottom, Jamie Butler, Adam Brown, Adam Paice, Joe Pattison, James McCloy, Matt Dye, Jesse Payne-Wilkins, George Newbery

Next Saturday we are taking two teams to North Walsham to play their First and Reserve teams.