Guildford City (0) 1, Horley Town (0) 1
by Barry Underwood
One of the best feelings in football is your team scoring a last minute winner. Probably the second best feeling is scoring a last gasp equaliser to take a share of the spoils; a feeling that seems as good as a victory. And so it was at the Spectrum when Adam Nditi’s spectacular free-kick zipped and fizzed into the top corner with just seconds left on the clock. Horley had taken a lead themselves late in the game but everybody was content at the final whistle that the right result had been achieved. The first moment of anxiety in either defence came after six minutes when a moment of hesitation in the City defence saw the bustling Shaun Brown find space on the left but his touch was heavy and the chance came to nothing. Minutes later City themselves had a clear sight of the Horley goal. The lively Sanchez Benali crossed in the danger area but debutant Jerry Amoo could only put his header wide of the post. In a good period for City Adam Turner saw a good header deflected wide, whilst in response the Clarets Ben Herdman saw his shot from the edge of the box spectacularly saved by Luke Badiali. A rehearsed move from a corner saw Connor French’s effort saved at full stretch, whilst almost on the Half-time whistle a City breakaway was thwarted by the match official who brought the play back for a City free-kick.
Within minutes of the restart Guildford came close to opening the scoring. A poor clearance straight to Jerry Amoo on the right wing saw him advance at pace on goal. His fierce effort somehow cannoned off the inside of the near post and flew across the face of goal beyond Connor French’s outstretched leg. On the hour Amoo almost repeated the exercise but he delayed his effort and the shot was blocked. As the game entered the last quarter Horley increasingly looked dangerous, on several occasions finding their way behind what had been until then a solid Guildford defence. James Clark had the best chance finding himself in acres of space with just Luke Badiali to beat but sadly for the visiting fans Clark blasted an early effort high over the crossbar. Almost immediately Leyton Regan had a harder chance from an angle that Badiali saved well. On 72 minutes Adam Nditi came within inches of making Horley pay for their misses when a mistake at the back saw Nditi delicately lift the bouncing ball over the advancing George Hyde but not only did the ball clear the goalkeeper it also narrowly cleared the crossbar. With gaps starting to open up Horley scored the goal they had been threatening. James Davies slipped on the surface and missed his clearance and the ball was laid across to James Clark who had the simple task of side footing home. It seemed that despite their best efforts City were not to be rewarded. Then two minutes into stoppage time up stepped Adam Nditi to fire home a cracker of a free-kick from fully 35 yards and Guildford took some reward from another good performance.
Team: Luke Badiali, Oliver Reynolds, Adam Nditi, Adam Turner (Tom Booth 88), Martin Dynan, Harry Driver (Chad Goulter 85), Sanchez Benali (James Davies 67), Jack Battie, Connor French, Darren Caesar, Jerry Amoo. Unused subs: Callum Sexton, Luke Reynolds.
Referee: Peter Georgiou
Attendance – 69
