ANOTHER good performance, another defeat – once again, the rub of the green was not with Guildford City today. Make no mistake though, this is a changed team to the one Andy Lunn managed barely a month a go – more of team spirit, a better work ethic and improved mental resilience. City owed their bad luck to some excellent goal-keeping which denied them a well deserved point in the dying moments of this game. They now face the awesome prospect of a trip to Camberley Town having taken only three points from their last 8 games. The Krooners, meanwhile, are top of the league and have not yet lost a league game.
We arrived 25 minutes late, due to poor planning by us (kick off was at 7:30 rather than the usual 7:45) and a few necessary banana sandwiches on Mullally’s part. When we got there we were greeted by an enthusiastic Bedfont supporter who remembered us from our fancy dress outing on the last game of last season. Neither the infamous Dean Banks nor Lofty were present at the game; perhaps they were settling their dispute from last season in the ring. At this point we were already one nil down, due to an Aaron Chenneour strike on 20 minutes.
We had the majority of possession, and should have equalised when Craig Moore fired over from 6 yards after a Simon Sheppard corner on 26 minutes. His shot nearly bouncing off an incoming Boeing 747 at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, no wonder he’s not our centre forward! The rest of the half saw few clear cut chances being created by either side and neither goalkeeper having too many problems caused.
The second started brighter for the home side, which saw them carve out a few early chances, the last of which resulted in their second goal. An in-swinging corner from the right was headed clear by Paul Bartholomew but his clearance could only find their full back, who crossed the ball back into the box and a well executed finish by Luke Craig, his first goal of the season, leaving Dave Tidy picking the ball out of his own net.
Going 2 – 0 down in recent weeks would have only seen Guildford’s heads drop and see us go another goal behind, but not this week. The players’ response was outstanding, picking up the pace and gaining more possession. The City players pushed up in search of a goal to get them back in the game. We didn’t need to wait for long as Joe Loysa’s shot from just inside the area found the back of the net and sent the Sweeney wild with over half an hour left on the clock.
The end of the game was all City. Despite numerous chances, frustratingly the ball would not cross the line and if it was not for the Bedfont keeper City would have walked away with at least a share of the spoils. Tristan Thomas pulled off at least two great saves. First from Alan Smiley who deflected drive he just got a hand to turn round the post and the second from Craig Moore who redeemed himself from his first half blunder with a superb shot from distance that the keeper could only palm over. The resulting corner being narrowly headed wide.
City thought the point was in reach when Joe Loysa, through on goal was brought down on the edge of the area. However the free kick could only hit the wall. Meanwhile Bedfont had a chance to guarantee all three points late on when a poor kick from Dave Tidy hit the retreating striker, but his shot was skewed well wide.
A positive performance by an ever improving Guildford side which on another day would have seen City earn something from the game. However it wasn’t to be. Dave Tidy assured the Sweeney after the game that victory would be ours at Camberley on the weekend. As Camberley are undefeated so far in the league this sounded like a bit of a long shot, but ever optimistic the Sweeney boys can live in hope!
GUILDFORD CITY: D. Tidy; P. Bartholomew; M. Burns; C. Moore; W. Noad; Martin Beard; A. Smiley ; A. Vine; M. Rothwell (sub A.Wylde, 70); J. Loyza; S. Sheppard
Subs not used: J. King; J.Stevens
BEDFONT: T. Thomas; P. O’Callaghan; A. Headland; M. Gallagher; I. Venelin; S. Potter; R. Pinto (D. Johns 65); S. Coultas (c); A. Chenneour; L. Craig; R. Bond ;
Subs not used: J. Henry; M. Harrison
