Royal Marines Disarmed

The Gas recorded a 3-0 victory over the Royal Marines in their first pre-season friendly this afternoon. A Matt Harrold penalty and further goals from Joe Anyinsah and Chris Zebroski saw Rovers comfortably with the game at Endurance Park, Exmouth.

Rovers' starting XI consisted of; Gough, Smith, Lockyer, Paterson, L. Brown, Hunter, Gill, Clucas, W. Brown, Harrold, Richards, with the game split in to three 30 minute segments that saw a penalty shootout take place in the first interval. Rovers won that shootout 4-2 with Conor Gough saving 3 penalties. A number of substitutions were made throughout the game and there was a new name to capture the attention of Gasheads, as former German youth international winger Fabian Broghammer replaced Shaquille Hunter after 54 minutes. Broghammer is currently not attached to another club but has featured for Stuttgart's II team in recent seasons. Intrigued, I tweeted Michael Smith for his views on his team-mate today and he told me 'he looked like he had pace and played left mid when he came on'. Other substitutes to feature included Matt Macey, Ross Staley, Ollie Clarke, Ollie Norburn, Jordan Goddard, Joe Anyinsah and Chris Zebroski.

Zebs scored Rovers third in 3-0 friendly win

Hunter won the penalty that Harrold converted in the first segment of game-time as the tall forward sent the 'keeper the wrong way. Anyinsah scored a header from a Goddard cross whilst Zebroski deftly netted the third after a ball in to the box from Staley. Both Goddard and Zebroski struck the crossbar whilst Harrold saw an effort tipped on to the post.

All friendly games are about boosting fitness levels and working on performance, so the results are irrelevant, but it doesn't hurt for the players to get back in to the winning mentality before the season begins in a month's time.