Our pre-season began against a strong Charlton Athletic U23 team as both sides had to contend with a constant downpour throughout, writes James Barrett.
Team news: New signings Danny Dudley and Raheem Sterling-Parker were given starts, while Steven Ibizugbe was looking to impress in central midfield. Alex Kozakis was named in goal and the bench was filled with both well-known and academy players. Ex-defender Tony Sinclair was the surprise name on the team sheet.
The visitors had the ball in the back of the net within the first minute as Recco Hackett-Fairchild smashed in a low drive but from an offside position.
We responded with Sterling-Parker as our new boy got down the inside left channel but Tommy Bradford just couldn't latch onto his cross by the six yard area.
Dudley then almost made an instant impact as he trotted forward for a corner won by Mickel Miller, but a defensive head just denied our new defender a free header at the back post.
Ricky Korboa then wow-ed the 195 crowd on eight minutes as his neat flick-and-turn saw him get away from his marker, but goalkeeper Jordan Beeney got down to save the eventual 20 yard pot shot.
The rain continued to stream down but Trialist 1 showed close control for the visitors on 18 minutes, going past two men before Dudley caught him late by our area. Our wall stood firm against Hackett-Fairchild's free kick however.
Charlton opened the scoring just four minutes later however - Kozakis and Dudley collided at the near post while trying to force out Trialist 3 but the visiting forward's toe poke rolled goalwards and it just had enough pace to beat the covering Bobby Price.
Again, we responded quickly as Ryan Healy played a one-two with Bradford but our young midfielder's cross was cleared. Price picked up the pieces but his firmly struck shot from 18 yards was blocked away by a dark blue shirt.
Miller and Sterling-Parker combined on the half-hour as we looked to cut open the Charlton defence, but this time the former had a shot blocked in the box before the latter dragged an effort wide of the near post.
Hackett-Fairchild forced Kozakis into an angled save three minutes later and, as our keeper was scrambling back up, Dudley was on hand to clear a shot by Trialist 2 off the line.
Ricardo Panton hit a high back pass towards Kozakis on 39 minutes and our keeper did well to take it down and past an opponent, but the slick surface meant Hackett-Fairchild pinched the ball as our keeper found himself outside his area. The forward got round Dudley, then the recovering Kozakis, but dragged his shot from 15 yards wide of the target.
HALF-TIME: 0 - 1
The game's lively tempo - much like the precipitation - didn't relent after the break, but we had to wait until the 57th minute for our next meaningful attack.
Bradford did well to read a mis-placed pass and he charged towards Charlton's goal, but last season's top scorer didn't catch his shot and Beeney clutched the ball safely.
We made a couple of subs but fell further behind on 65 minutes as Ryan Blumberg side-footed a left wing cross in from close range.
And our visitors made it three in spectacular fashion just two minutes later - Trialist 6 got on the ball 40 yards from goal, slalomed past two players and unleashed a rocket that beat Kozakis and bounced in off the crossbar.
It was hard to take as we'd competed well up until those two quick-fire goals, while Dapio Aditogun was introduced for Ibizugbe.
The final goal of the game arrived confusingly on 73 minutes - a high ball up towards our back post was seemingly gathered by Kozakis, whom then bowled it out to get us going forward, but the linesman on the near side flagged. He told the referee the ball supposedly crossed the line as Kozakis claimed it and we had to return the ball to the centre spot.
The closest we came to reducing the arrears was on 88 minutes as we played a short corner and Brendan Murphy-McVey had time to thrash an angled drive just the wrong side of the near post.
Photos from the game can be viewed here
Photos from the game can be viewed here
Next up: We host AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday 18th July before QPR arrive on Saturday 21st July.
Carshalton Athletic: Kozakis; Price (Okoku - 58), Dudley (Davidson-Phipps - 76), Sinclair, Panton (Swaby - 74); Healy (Tadafe - 84), Ibizugbe (Aditogun - 69); Miller (McKenzie - 86), Raheem-Sterling (Kasibante - 58), Bradford (Yohou - 78), Korboa (Murphy-McVey - 42)
Charlton Athletic: Beeney, Yao, Edwards, Bowry, Cummings, Lapslie, Yamfam, Hackett-Fairchild, Trialist 1, Trialist 2, Trialist 3
Subs from: Harvey, Blumberg, Maloney, Doughty, Sarpong-Wiredu, Trialist 4, Trialist 5, Trialist 6.
Goals: Trialist 3 (18), Blumberg (65), Trialist 6 (68), Unknown (74)