On Tuesday evening, Danny Edwards took his side to Slough Town - and their 3g pitch - for the toughest looking match in this pre-season against Step 3 Hanwell Town, captained by ex-Red Calum Duffy and managed by former red and prolific striker Chris Moore who notched up 127 goals for the Reds.
On a mild night, Uxbridge took control of the game and had the vast majority of possession making this count in the 6th minute when new signing Brad Pagliaroli - playing on the right wing - fed the ever-running Kensley Maloney, who calmly slotted past the Hanwell Keeper.
Uxbridge continued having the majority of possession and looking comfortable building from the back with centre halves Sean McGuiness and captain for the night Luke Paris, with BryanTaylor at left back and Lewis Patrick at right back. With Maloney again pulling the strings in central midfield with Lewis Cole and Michael Bryan. Upfront was Pagliaroli on the right, Ezra Ndukuba on the left and Dean Morgan in the middle.
In the 15th minute the impressive Pagliaroli let one fly from 20 yards forcing a diving stop from the Geordies stopper.
Uxbridge advantage wasn't to last however and a good block from Taylor prevented a goal for Hanwell but in the 17th minute Hanwell got their equaliser from a corner which wasn't cleared and was lashed home inside the area.
Just a couple of minutes later Fin Purcell, in the Uxbridge goal was caught hesitating from a back pass but somehow managed to recover the situation just in time before a Hanwell striker could poke it into the net.
After the equaliser Hanwell started having more of the ball but it was Uxbridge who nearly scored the third goal of the night in the 25th minute when a Lewis Patrick free kick from wide on the right-hand side evaded the Hanwell back line and found its way to Dean Morgan. His intelligent run made contact on the volley just inside the area but it went straight to the keeper.
Uxbridge were now having more of the opportunities and after a Ndukuba effort 30 yards out flashed wide in the 31st minute, a minute later following a neat move involving Pagliaroli, Maloney and Ndukuba, the ball was passed to Morgan just inside the area but he dragged his shot wide.
Uxbridge were thankful to Purcell just 5 minutes after, when a misplaced pass to Pagliaroli 35 yards centrally from the Uxbridge goal was intercepted by a Hanwell midfielder who carried the ball on and let fly from 25 yards. With the ball destined for the top corner Purcell made a full stretch diving save to tip it over the bar. Paris cleared the resulting corner.
Hanwell were on top as half time approached and ex red Joe Jackson found himself in acres of space 20 yards from goal but his effort was blazed high over the bar.
With 4 minutes of the half to go, I am sure Uxbridge would have been happy to go in level but a superb crossfield ball by Pagliaroli to Morgan beat the Hanwell offside trap and with 2 defenders on him as he entered the left hand side of the penalty box, Morgan expertly held the defenders off and crossed across the six yard box evading the defenders outstretched legs, the keepers outstretched arms to Ndukuba who was running in unmarked and slammed the ball home into an empty net. 2-1 Uxbridge.
Just 2 minutes later it got better for Uxbridge, a clever quick throw on the half way line by Patrick was gathered by Maloney and with only the Hanwell Town left back to beat, Maloney cut inside and from the corner of the box curled a delightful left footed shot into the far corner.
On the stroke of half time Morgan and Pagliaroli found themselves 2 on 2 but instead of Morgan passing to the unmarked Pagliaroli he went alone and his shot deflected wide for a corner much to Pagliarolis' frustration! Nevertheless, Uxbridge went into the break 3-1 to the good.
The second half started as did the rain and Hanwell gained the initiative and would have pulled a goal back in the 50th minute but Purcell was on hand to make a great save when presented with a one on one. Just 4 minutes later, a Hanwell winger nutmegged full back Taylor, cut inside but again Purcell was to the rescue. Hanwell were dominant at this stage and in the 57th minute following another dangerous Hanwell corner, another effort was just deflected wide.
An hour had passed when Uxbridge made their first changes of the night with young Cristea replacing Purcell in goal, along with Witham and Ceesay replacing Ndukuba and Michael Bryan.
66 minutes had passed when Maloney fed the ball to Morgan and it looked like Morgan was just going to beat the Hanwell keeper to the ball but credit to the keeper who timed his run and diving block to perfection.
An altercation between Witham and the Hanwell right back resulted in the first yellow card of the game to Witham in the 69th minute.
Further substitutions took place for Uxbridge between the 71st and 75th minute when Aflie Harburn came on for Lewis Cole and Luke Paris was replaced by Addo, with the aforementioned Addo playing at right back and Lewis Patrick slotting in at centre half.
Uxbridge were looking to get a fourth and with 13 minutes to go Ceesay ignored the overlapping Witham and chose to replicate Maloney's second goal of the night, but alas the curling effort went well wide.
78 minutes had passed when the excellent Pagliaroli was replaced and just a minute later, the goal of the game! A nice move involving Witham and Harburn ensured that the ball found its way to Morgan who, unleashed an unstoppable 30-yard screamer into the keepers' top left-hand corner with the crowd - including Hanwell Town fans - clapping their appreciation of an excellent goal. That is Morgans fourth goal in three pre-season games and he looks like an outstanding addition to this year's squad.
With the clock running down the last action of the night was a chance to Hanwell with a direct free kick 20 yards from the Uxbridge goal which went wide of the post and summed up their night, with the referee's full-time whistle coming from the resulting goal kick.
A tremendous result and performance from the Red Army which bodes well for the season ahead. Up next is another tough assignment in National League South side Slough Town.
Match report from Dave Mallam