Bedfont Sports (1) 2, Guildford City (1) 1
by Barry Underwood
The Guildford City road trip continued to Bedfont Sports on Saturday but on this occasion, unlike the two previous away matches, City’s performance disappointed and they came away from Hatton Road pointless. On a wet and windy day when many other leagues matches had fallen victim to the weather, the Bedfont pitch was in fine condition. The City side was missing striker Matt Anton, and just before kick-off Curtis George withdrew after re-igniting a leg injury during the warm-up. The game’s opening was cagey but certainly the home side looked far more confident than might have been expected from a side sitting in 20th position. Indeed it had been noted before the match that despite their lowly position the Bedfont goals conceded record was amongst the best in the division. It was though in offence that Bedfont first made their mark and on seven minutes Liam Beach was forced into action to tip a fierce effort onto the crossbar. Unfortunately a minute later Beach went from hero to villain when he failed to hold a routine loose ball and Bedfont’s Danny Thompson had the simple task of walking the ball into the net. The difference in levels of performance in two consecutive games is one of football’s engaging aspects. At Horley, City played impressively indeed but here at Hatton Road they huffed and puffed but were unable to unleash their cohesive brand of football. As the half progressed City were three times thwarted by tight offside decisions as Bedfont flirted with a high defensive line. Finally though City broke through two minutes before the interval. The hardworking Harry Driver’s defence splitting pass found Josh Drew advancing into the box and his low cross was converted at the near post by Nathan Chambers.
City’s Jack COLLINS
Having equalised late in the first half the hope amongst the Sweeney present was that City would come out in the second half a different side. Even amongst the watching City fans though the atmosphere seemed strangely flat and it did appear to transfer to the players on the pitch. To be fair Guildford looked more composed during the second half. Defensively they looked more secure dealing well with an increasing amount of Bedfont corners and City fans present were pretty confident that they wouldn’t concede again. Going forward City did fashion some chances. Twice Josh Drew couldn’t get enough power in shots as he attacked from the left side, and in probably the best chance in 84 minutes Adam Nditi laid a ball back to Harry Driver who similarly was unable to get enough power in his effort to trouble Josh Richardson in the home goal. As so often is the case Guildford were made to pay shortly afterward. Whilst trying to play the ball out of defence Matt York was caught in possession and 16 year old Harrison Livingston had a free run towards goal where he drilled a low effort beyond Beach into the corner. It was a sorry culmination to the match for City but they just hadn’t been at the races, but in the end they were beaten by two defensive errors.
Team: Liam Beach, Tom Booth, Bradley Pegg, Matt York, Martin Dynan, Harry Driver, Nathan Chambers (Sam Wright 60), Daren Caesar, Josh Drew (Florin Ramizi 82), Jack Collins (Andy Ottley 60), Adam Nditi. Unused subs: Josh Everard, Curtis George.
Referee: Adam Donaldson
