Reading YMCA made hard work of securing 3 points against a resilient Mortimer side who finished at the foot of the Senior Division last season.

This was despite getting off to a dream start when a goalmouth scramble saw a Mortimer player handle on the line although the player was saved from a red card by generous referee Graham Hamilton. Johnny Adey calmly slotted home the resulting penalty.

Mortimer had the first chance shortly afterwards when an underhit Ben Green backpass was pounced upon by the Mortimer striker only for debutant keeper Scott Hodgetts to make a great save.

Although YM looked the more threatening, there was not much between the sides with both teams enjoying success with crosses into the box on a difficult surface.

The Young Men made it 2-0 just before the break when he raced on to a loose ball to slam home with his left foot.

YM looked in control in the 2nd half and Abery and Nader Edmunds both had great chances to score whilst a slick YM move saw an Adey volley well saved by the keeper.

With 15 minutes to go Mortimer earned a lifeline when the ball slipped out of Hodgetts' hands allowing Manos Skantos to slot into the empty net.

It was end to end stuff in the final minutes but YM held on for the points.

YM boss Mark Lemm said "Opening day of the season you just want to get the 3 points and, although we can play better, I thought we deserved the win. Mortimer worked hard and they are no pushovers so when they get a few of their players back they will cause sides problems."

READING YMCA: HODGETTS, CAYZER, GREEN, FITZPATRICK, C LEMM, ADEY, WAGNER, D TIPPER (replaced by FROUDE 60mins), EDMUNDS, SEYMOUR (replaced by BAKER 65mins), ABERY (replaced by JENNINGS 68mins) SUBS FROUDE, BAKER, JENNINGS.

LEMMY'S MOM - JASON WAGNER