Matamata Swifts kicked off their 2006 pre-season on a perfect late summer evening with a keenly contested fixture against Norther League 1st division side, Melville United. Played in three periods of 30 minutes, the match was far from a classic footballing encounter.

Two good, evenly matched, but rusty, sides eased themselves in to the new season on the back of a great deal of endeavour, but not too much in the way of pure football craft. Of course, this was to be expected with training only just becoming a habit again and in conditions more suited our summer eleven-a-side game.

The Swifts started the match with several new faces in the side. It was introductions all round as Jon Allen and Harrie Cyhan slotted into a starting eleven built largely around the core of Matamata's successful 2005 side. The other new face was Luis Sosa, who stepped into the Swifts back three, following a couple of years playing in midfield for Morrinsville.

Matamata looked good for much of the first period. While neither side created much in the way of scoring chances, the Swifts had several good periods of possession and looked more than a match for their highly rated opponents.

The home side did have the best and, if truth be told, only real opening of the period following a scramble in their opponents' box. The ball was, however, blazed over the bar when it should really have found itself nestled in the back of the net.

Matamata only made one change at the first interval as John Massey hobbled out of the fray having suffered yet another tweak to his small but ageing body. The side struggled a little for fitness during the second period, which was expected so early in the year. It wasn't so much that they didn't match Melville physically. They did. It was more that the error rate rose as tiredness started to set in.

It was from such a fatigue-induced error that Melville opened the scoring. A defensive header back across the Swifts box fell kindly for one of the visting players who cooly looped the ball over a stranded Gary Darkes in the Matamata goal.

Fresh Matamata legs were brought into the game at the second interval as the Swifts made another four substitutions (followed by another couple only a few minutes into the final third of the game). It was a perfect opportunity for a host of fringe players to show what they could do against quality opponents.

The Swifts let the second goal in barely a minute into the final period. To be honest, the finish was the highlight of the match - a great angled drive into the far corner of reserve keeper Matt Aberhart's goal.

After that, however, Aberhart barely touched the ball. Matamata pressed, unsuccessfully as it turned out, to get something from the game while Melville tightened things up, seemingly content with what they had in the bank.

Matamata will be a better side for having the first run of the season under their belt. Eighteen players got on the field and, with a number of others likely to be pushing for places in the coming weeks, Matamata coach, Duncan Lowry, is in a great position so far out from the start of the season. Already he will be having selection headaches. Good ones, mind.

The Swifts are in action again next Saturday when they take two sides to play in Cambridge.