Guildford City initially made hard work of this game, falling behind in the first minute thanks to some slack defending. They gradually asserted themselves however and won a penalty mid way through the half which the Dorking keeper saved from Simon Cooper. Tom Penson levelled the scores on the stroke of halftime and from then on City dominated. Ben Camara struck a sublime shot to make it 2-1 and Jack Guilford and Ben Rayner extended the lead before Dorking pulled a consolation goal back.
If we thought this was going to be a straightforward match against a struggling side then we were wrong. Guildford quickly found out that Dorking were far from a pushover as early as the first minute – failing to cut out the danger down the wing which allowed a low shot across the face of goal to be tapped home. The home side were looking strong at this point and Guildford initially struggled to threaten the Chicks’ goal. A huge stroke of luck fell City’s way though when they were awarded a highly dubious penalty. Cooper stepped up but the keeper dived the right way. The penalty seemed to galvanise the visitors however and they started to make inroads. This finally resulted in an equaliser just before half time – Tom Penson crashing a header in off the bar.
That equaliser seemed to draw the sting from the Chicks and Guildford dominated the 2nd half, pulling ahead shortly after the restart. Ben Camara received the ball in the box and dinked a beautiful curling shot round the keeper’s outstretched hand and into the net. With the Dorking defence being increasingly over-run, Jack Guilford made it 3-1 some ten minutes later – volleying home a rebound from 10 yards out. Ben Rayner completed the rout shortly afterwards – a really scrappy goal which hit his foot, a defenders knee and the keeper’s fingers!
Dorking were not about to roll over and die though and they drew a truly superb save from Hall in the dying moments of the match – a piledriver seeming to be destined for the top corner before Hally pushed it over the bar. He could not prevent a last-gasp consolation goal however, a good finish after the Chicks caught City napping.
