Click HERE to view Guildford City FC web site.

Combined Counties League - Premier Division Match

MATCH REPORT

It was difficult to know which of the two sides deserved all the points in a rather strange exchange which featured for hosts Guildford City, nine players who had played for Chertsey Town in the past year, six of them this season. Guildford City's heat countered Chertsey Town's light, resulting in a Combined Counties League match that neither club came away fully satisfied that the balanced score line illustrated justice on the day.
 
Chertsey felt that they gifted the two City goals, both came from poor defending, whereas Guildford hit the inside of the Chertsey woodwork twice which could have turned a robust encounter their way. In the passage of time, this might well be viewed as a one off situation that stood outside the norms of the form book and relative team strengths. The game never flew out of control and the referee played his part well as rivalry between former team mates challenged the limits but went no further.

 Chertsey started off the keenest and Aaron McLeish saw a strong shot deflected away for a corner after only two minutes. Mark Waters also saw his dead ball shot turned aside on 16 minutes with Guildford conceding a series of free kicks. But it was not all Chertsey. The home side tried to hit back and almost took the lead when a corner from the right fell in the Chertsey goalmouth. The ball was knocked about in a very very vulnerable spot and it ended up hitting the cross bar before being cleared.

 Not long after, Gavin Bolger's header flew over the bar at the other end of the park before Town took the lead on 29 minutes with McLeish firing a shot from outside the box that frankly looked favourite for Dave Tidy in goal to stop but somehow the ball eluded his full length dive and entered the net. It has not been a feature of Chertsey's game o late, to take a first half lead but the advantage did not last for long; five minutes in fact. An innocuous looking header spilled out of Josh Lennie's grasp for Joe Loyza to collect and tidy away for the equaliser.

 The goal sparked Guildford into a strong period up to half time, during which a curling shot from Matt Graves hit the far side upright and Lennie was able to collect. The home side also looked menacing soon after the break with consecutive corner kicks. These, and other advanced dead ball kicks, were invariably delivered right into the Chertsey goalmouth throughout the game but improved and more determined central defending saw out the threat.

 Play returned to the opposite direction and Chertsey struck back with, by far, the best goal of the game. It came in the 54th minute with speedy movement through the middle. Kevin Cooper splayed the ball out to the right where McLeish cut in, passed two defenders, and fired in low from just inside the Guildford penalty area to sneak his side ahead one more.

 Although slender, the lead looked more secure this time round but then, on 74 minutes, with possession being lost in midfield, Town's defences became lopsided as the ball was progressed into their penalty area. Even then, the situation looked under control but with two players being beaten near the goal line but ten yards off centre, the ball was squeezed across the goalmouth.

 Although less than a foot from the line, there was no immediate threat but lack of communication led to Darren Dobinson hurriedly trying to clear, only to see his near impossible task conclude with the ball falling into the goal for another disappointment in highlighting Chertsey's tendency to give away cheaply.

 The final quarter of an hour produced more gritty football but no real openings. The referee was obliged to employ his yellow card to keep the situation calm but no confrontations or diplomatic incidents ensued, but neither did any more goals, leaving the afternoon pretty well balanced and honours even.