Bramley scored the first goal of the season for Golders Green, who opened their programme with a friendly encounter with Northampton Nomads at Claremont Road on Saturday. Golders Green were in splendid form and repeated last year's victory, though not with the same margin of security. The Nomads have grown in strength since that meeting and a draw looked likely at one point on Saturday, but Smith gave a fine display and was unshaken by the hard first-time shooting of the visitors.

The visitors were the first to press and Smith was early engaged, running out to clear before Haskins could reach a centre from Soloman, who worked the ball down well with York. The clearance put Golders Green properly on the move and Bucci sent the ball out to Spalton, who delivered a useful pass to Knott, but the shot went right across the goal. Knott and Bramley had a couple more tries, but the Nomads seemed to have settled down more quickly and the Greens were soon on the defence again. Ellis upset one or two dangerous moves and Richardson was equally alert, except for one instance when he missed badly in front of goal, allowing Haskins to test Smith.

At the other end Rymill held from Knott and Pearson intercepted a low drive from Rowe. Ten minutes from the start Bramley just managed to get his foot to a pass from Rowe and pushed the ball through for the opening goal.

Golders Green were now getting well into their stride, but several advances were stopped by offside. One of the free kicks put York in a good position to equalise, but he shot wide. Nomads were always quick to shoot, but they lifted the ball too much to cause Smith undue anxiety. Low shots would have stood a better chance.

One exciting moment came when Smith went down full-length to save from Goffey, pushing the ball round for a corner. He punched out from the corner kick and cleared again from Haskins, who shot at close range.

Then Golders Green attacked strongly and Knott put in a beautiful shot from near the corner, the ball running along the crossbar to fall into play again. Bramley took a fine centre from Lawrence, but failed to beat Rymill, who stood up well to some determined onslaughts from the right wing. Lawrence's centres were consistently good and some nice touches came also from Knott.

Golders Green's second goal was netted by Knott, who turned in a pass by White after Bramley had failed with a pot shot on the turn.

Knott called upon Rymill again and Bucci reached the goalkeeper with a long shot through, but the best chance of a third goal was lost by Bramley skying the ball with only Rymill to beat.

From the goal kick the Nomads went away on the left and Soloman swung the ball across to Edwards. Smith ran out in an endeavour to intercept the pass, failed to reach the ball and could not recover before Edwards shot home. Half-time arrived with the score 2-1 in favour of Golders Green.

After the change of ends Nomads attempted to force the pace but the pressure was not maintained and Lawrence was prominent in two promising raids on the visitors' goal. He tried a couple of long shots and sent in a well-judged centre which would have succeeded if Bramley could have got his head to the ball. Knott found himself well placed again, but shot high, and Rymill held the ball from Rowe. When Nomads advanced again Haskins worked through cleverly, but spoilt his effort by shooting clean into the goalkeeper's arms. Smith had a number of shots to deal with, mainly from York, but Golders Green exerted themselves again and were going well when a foul was given against Knott. Andrews took the kick from near the half-way line and dropped the ball right between the posts, but Smith cleared. Broadis stopped York and Soloman, and Ellis was again prominent in preventing likely movements from developing. Towards the end there was a scramble around the Nomads' goal. Shots came from all along the line and Bramley came near to scoring, but hung on too long when the goal was open to him. Knott had particularly hard luck not to score when he struck the bar with the goalkeeper out of position, and he later struck the upright with a stinging shot neatly turned on the run. Play slowed down towards the end, but the game still provided sufficient interest and a higher margin for Golders Green was promised when White dropped the ball in front of the visitor's goal. Rowe and Lawrence all but reached the ball, only to see Rymill nip out to pick up practically at their feet.

The game showed Golders Green to be a sound team, with a very attractive forward line and a defence to be reckoned with. Spalton's efforts were limited by the opposition of a particularly big back in Andrews, but he worked well and the work of Knott and Lawrence was always good. White was clever but not entirely reliable.