A perfect evening for a pre-season friendly with the temperature having dropped just enough to enjoy a pleasant evening watching the Bears take on a young and skilful Charlton Athletic side.

The Bears started off well with Mason Doughty testing the Charlton keeper in the opening minute with a right foot shot from distance that the stopper saved comfortably on the line and minutes later it was a case of Deja vu with Doughty again testing the keeper with a long range shot.

But it was the visitors who took the lead with their first real attack on 5 minutes when the ball was played out wide right to their No.2 who cut infield before splitting the Heath defence with a pass inside the penalty area to their No.9 who turned his marker one way then the other before firing past Billy Collings into the net.

The Bears responded well with Ben Aubrey seeing his goal-bound effort from a tight angle saved well by the Charlton keeper and Charlie Parmiter low left foot drive was gathered well at the near post by the Charlton No. 1 who was having a busy evening.

The equalising goal came on 29 minutes, a left wing diagonal cross from Owen Cramer-Flynn was headed home at the far post by Doughty rising above the defender like a salmon on the River Tweed to flick the ball into the top right corner of the net.

Things got even better for the Bears 2 minutes later with a fairly routine set piece; a free kick wide on the right was swung into the far post by the left boot of Jamie Chesworth to Tad Bromage sneaking in undetected at the back post to place a header down and into the net, giving his side the advantage.

The visitors then had their best spell of the match with the Charlton No. 8 testing Collings with a powerful shot from 20 yards and 5 minutes before half-time the score was level, a Charlton move down the left saw the ball played inside to the No. 3 some 25 yards from goal and the player ran at the Heath defence with pace and close control before drilling a left foot shot low and wide of Collings to make it 2-2 at the break.

All change for the start of the second with Heath changing the entire team all 11 players and before they had a chance to settle they were 2-3 down, a simple ball straight down the middle of the park found the Charlton No. 11 in acres of space to shoot from the edge of the penalty area, Leo Anderson did well to make the save but the No.10 followed up to net from close range.

The second period was equally entertaining but with fewer goal scoring opportunities, Heath’s Adrian Todd and Matt Hay both had good attempts from distance and in the closing stages Callum Dowdell looked odds on to equalise but decided to pass to a team-mate instead and the chance had gone.

Overall though a thoroughly entertaining evening for all those in attendance and a Big Thankyou to Charlton Athletic for bringing their team along.