Guildford City (0) 0, Hanworth Villa (0) 1
by Barry Underwood
This hard grind at the Spectrum was a case of “after the Lord Mayor’s Show” following last Wednesday’s super show at the same venue. Hanworth to their credit were highly organised and certainly they proved to be a tough side to break down. This showed as City enjoyed possession but push and probe as they did they just couldn’t find clear shooting chances in front of goal, and visiting keeper Hadley Witney had a relatively quiet afternoon. The first clear chance of the day fell to Hanworth when the speedy Cyril Ocansey outpaced the defence on six minutes but shot wide when well placed. The visitors followed this up three minutes later when they hit the post from a free-kick wide on the left. Guildford did counter minutes later when Ibby Akanbi’s pace took him to the by-line on the right and from his cut back Dan Harding’s effort was charged down at full stretch. On 15 minutes Villa came close again but a combination of Jordan Clement and a fine tackle from Nathan Gordon saw off the danger. Gradually as the half progressed Guildford settled and enjoyed some territorial advantage. From a corner Alex Penfold saw a powerful header miss the post by inches, and on the half-hour Jack Battie found himself in space and a marvellous first touch gave him an early shooting chance that was saved comfortably by Witney. Shortly before the interval Villa really should have opened the scoring. Again the speedster Ocansey went clear but after rounding Clement he under hit his shot which was cleared by the covering Tom Booth.
Guildford supporters hoping for a lift in momentum after the break were disappointed as the match continued in the same scrappy vein. This was certainly no match for the purist. The game’s only goal came after 52 minutes when Hanworth broke into space but just as it seemed the attack had broken down a deep cross was thrown towards the far post where Dean Milborrow timed his run to perfection to shoot past Clement from an acute angle. On the hour mark both sides exchanged efforts that were cleared off the line. First Tom Booth hacked clear a header from a corner, and then for City Alex Penfold’s power header hit a defender on the line and was smuggled away under pressure from Matt Glass. As the match came to its closing stages Guildford dominated proceedings whilst Hanworth defended stoically looking to hold on to what they had. City did come close when Shawn Clement-Peter cut in and saw a shot blocked, and when the rebound ran to Perry Coles his shot from an angle was saved by Witney’s legs. For all the possession and balls forward City couldn’t fashion an opening and there was a feeling that it might just be one of those days.
Team: Jordan Clement, Tom Booth, Alex Penfold, Jason Thompson, Nathan Gordon, Bobby Dormer, Ibby Akanbi (Darryl Siaw 71), Shawn Clement-Peter, Perry Coles, Dan Harding (Rob Wickenden 75), Jack Battie (Matt Glass 46).
Referee: Chris Williams
Attendance – 72
