Chichester City management give pre-season verdict after Loxwood and Worthing clashes

Never mind a defeat – we’re happy with pre-season progress so far.
Chi City celebrate one of Ethan Pritchard's goals against Worthing / Picture: Neil HolmesChi City celebrate one of Ethan Pritchard's goals against Worthing / Picture: Neil Holmes
Chi City celebrate one of Ethan Pritchard's goals against Worthing / Picture: Neil Holmes

That’s the message from Chichester City as they step up their preparations for a second season in the Isthmian League.

City started their programme of friendlies with a victory – 3-0 at SCFL premier side Loxwood – before losing 4-2 to Worthing, who play in the division above them, in Saturday’s Dave Kew Memorial Cup semi-final at Selsey.

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Boss Miles Rutherford, assistant Graeme Gee and coaches Danny Potter and Darin Killpartrick have kept the vast majority of last season’s squad together and are running the rule over a handful of new prospects in pre-season.

Coach Potter said: “We’re happy with how things have gone so far despite the loss to Worthing.

“Pre-season is all about getting us ready physically as well as tactically, and playing Worthing gave us a good challenge in both of these areas.

“Our players have been training hard for a number of weeks already and we are looking to give more younger players from the club opportunities in the next few games.

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“As we get closer to September 12 (the likely start date for the campaign) we will of course have to discuss as a management team who will be in contention to start in our first competitive game of the season.

“But in the meantime we are excited to see some new faces step up to the challenge while also giving enough minutes to our more accomplished players from last season.

“All in all it’s good to have football back, though it is still a bit odd with no supporters.”

The visit to Loxwood came on a very hot evening and City said Loxwood welcomed them in a very professional and organised way, giving credit to their club and volunteers.

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Chi controlled the game and went ahead via a very good solo goal by Kaleem Haitham. Chi made it 2-0 late on in the first half with a good finish by Josh Clack.

Lots of changes were made at half-time by both teams, which allowed Chi to look at a few younger players who did very well.

Both sides had chances in the second half, though Chi got the third late on via a Gicu Iordache finish.

Against Worthing (see a match report on page 70) City lost 4-2 after going 2-0 down early on then recovering to match their opponents for long periods.

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That game threw up a couple of names to keep an eye on – defender Flori Vucay and forward Ethan Pritchard, the latter scoring both goals against the Rebels.

Next up for Chichester is a trip to the New Forest to face Brockenhurst this Saturday, while other games in the schedule include another meeting with Worthing – at Oaklands Park on Tuesday, September 1.