Complex sentence: Stoke began their preparation for the 2009--10 season with two Stoke XIs playing matches simultaneously against local non-league sides Newcastle Town and Nantwich Town, both matches were surprisingly lost, 2--1 at Newcastle and 2--0 at Nantwich.
Split into simpler sentences: Stoke began their preparation for the 2009--10 season with two Stoke XIs playing matches simultaneously against local non-league sides Newcastle Town and Nantwich Town. Both matches were surprisingly lost, 2--1 at Newcastle and 2--0 at Nantwich.