Riverside at British Sugar was the location for Cardea's last pre season friendly and the pitch was cutting up fast following heavy rain overnight. First half goalkeeper Craig Robinson was already moaning before the first whistle that his area was a mess.

The game started with Cardea on top, winning several corners. From the first Michael Williams headed over and moments later from another corner there was a goalmouth scramble when Williams header was saved by the keeper. The ball came to Ryan Moore who couldn't add to his solitary Cardea goal as he struck his effort straight at the grounded goalkeeper. A couple of minutes later and Cardea keeper Robinson was called into action when he was forced to make a save from a 20 yard shot.

With around 20 minutes played Cardea won a free kick on the left and it was sent into the box by Aaron Yeoman onto the head of Tom Broughton, who headed straight at the goalkeeper. Fletton then broke up the other end and their striker managed to find a gap in the defence but his shot sailed well over the crossbar.

The deadlock was broken when good work from Mike Dandrilli saw him outsmart the defender and skip into the box, amazingly he passed the ball and Broughton tucked the ball away at the second attempt.

Half an hour into the match keeper Robinson was called into action again when he was nearly caught out by a lob but managed to defy the laws of gravity and claw the ball out of the area and it was cleared to safety.

At the other end Daryl Patrick found himself in space 20 yards out and drilled a low shot that was well saved, Broughton got to the ball and his cross was headed over the bar by the defender, denying Dandrilli an easy header.

The game turned very sour just before half time when Dave Spence was caught with an over the top of the ball challenge which saw him hobble off with a hole near his knee. The referee (waterboy) only saw fit to show a yellow card for a challenge that ended Spence's day, manager Kev Webster was less than impressed.

At half time Anton Fountain took over from Robinson in goal and various other changes were made but the 4-4-2 shape was retained. Just after the restart Yeoman sent a free kick into the box which was fumbled by the goalkeeper and came out in between the oncoming attackers.

Dandrilli then found himself clean through only for the goalkeeper to come and meet him and clear the ball. It wasn't too long before Cardea doubled their lead when Dandrilli slotted a ball through for Yeoman who was one on one with the keeper and kept his composure to finish neatly into the corner.

On the hour mark Patrick, who had put himself about in both halves of the pitch, had a great chance to add a third. Adam Simons found himself on the right and crossed a perfect ball for Patrick to strike on the half volley, but he struck it straight at the keeper who saved with his feet.

Into the last 15 minutes and Adam Simons was causing chaos for the Fletton back line with his runs in behind. He was only denied by alert goalkeeping and dodgy offside calls. One of the highlights of the game was an attempted 20 yard overhead kick from George Greetham, unfortunately for the striker he could not make contact and ended up flat out on the floor.

With 10 minutes to go Juliano Scibelli was booked for complaining about a decision, this led to Webster launching into a furious tirade at the referee which saw him sent to the stands, despite the ref telling him to go home!!

The match was completed and it was a an eighth win out of eight for Cardea in pre season. The stats read 40 goals for and just 6 conceded. Mike Dandrilli finished as top scorer with 9 goals, followed by Tom Broughton on 6 and Aaron Yeoman with 5.

The man of the match for the Fletton game was given to captain Daryl Patrick for his attitude displayed in the game and good work breaking up the play and setting Cardea on the attack.

After the game manager Kev Webster, who had cooled down by this time, said: "Firstly I would like to apologise for my red card. We played a good game against physical opponents. Some of the quick passing cut them open. Well done for an unbeaten pre season but we need to carry this into the first game next week and keep at this level throughout the season."

With pre season now completed the league games start on Sunday 1st September when Cardea host Woodston at the Bushfield 3G.