Guildford City (1) 2, Windsor (0) 1
by Barry Underwood
Guildford City extended their unbeaten run to four matches, and with just one defeat now in nine matches any fears that that they might be dragged into a relegation battle have receded, and understandably thoughts are turning to achieving as high a league finish as possible. The first half of this encounter was in truth a little flat with neither side causing too many problems for the respective defences. City was missing Luke Badiali and Jack Battie to injury, and Darren Caesar to suspension and perhaps with two influential midfield players missing Windsor managed just to edge the midfield battle. But with both backlines looking strong this didn’t prove too significant. The visitor’s main attacking threat came in similar fashion to Hanworth’s. That is to say via the howitzer like kicks, both from the floor and the hand, of Carl Dennison the Windsor goalkeeper. Particularly with the significant wind blowing across the Spectrum, the test to dealing with the long range kicks was always going to come from how the City defence reacted to the loose ball that invariably fell from the defensive headers. Guildford took the lead after 16 minutes from a rare moment of danger at either end of the pitch. A smart piece of footwork by Sanchez Benali took him into the box where he was upended by a clumsy challenge. The same player got up, dusted himself off, and despatched the penalty off of the inside of the post.
Within minutes of the second-half restart the City defence all but donated Windsor an equaliser. James Davies seemed to have averted the danger with a sliding tackle, but the ball was played back into the danger area where indecision gave Windsor possession in a good position from where fortunately for the home side they hit the outside of the post. Three further minutes on and City had taken a two goal lead. Chad Goulter headed the ball back into the box where Matt Anton’s exemplary first touch gave him the opportunity to slide the ball past Dennison. With a two goal advantage Guildford noticeably lifted their game and enjoyed their best spell of the match. On 53 minutes Tyrame Hemmings found big central defender Darryl Siaw in space in the box but his shot hit the side netting. On the hour after a patient build-up Matt Anton’s shot was comfortably saved, but then immediately at the other end Windsor managed to bundle the ball home after it looked as if the defence were in command. Travis Hodge was given the credit for getting the last touch. This gave the home side a reminder that the match wasn’t over and Sanchez Benali saw a free-kick clear the crossbar and winger David Koduah saw a curling effort comfortably saved by Dennison. With twenty minutes remaining Matt Anton had a great chance to put the game beyond doubt. Clever footwork took him clear from the halfway line but Carl Dennison saved brilliantly at the expense of a corner. As the game reached its final stages Tyrame Hemmings shot just wide, but with Martin Dynan and Darryl Siaw controlling matters at the back, the match ended without undue alarm and City move on in confident fashion.
Post match interview with defender and assistant manager Martin Dynan can be heard here.
Team: Nic Taylor, Tom Booth, James Davies, Darryl Siaw, Martin Dynan, Chad Goulter, Sanchez Benali, Tom O’Connor, Matt Anton, Tyrame Hemmings, David Koduah (Shay Morally 68). Unused subs: Callum Sexton, Josh Everard, Steve Lang, George Patterson.
Referee: Zack Ellis
Attendance – 84
