Guildford City (2) 3, Colliers Wood United (0) 0
by Jack Underwood
In his programme notes the manager Don Chislett stated that his ‘honest group will continue to fight’ in the up and coming games and in a splendid performance they proved just that against mid-table Colliers Wood United. Guildford City came into their 38th game of the season after two straight defeats against Knaphill and Badshot Lea but seemed to have put those results behind them in the early stages of the game as they put early pressure on the opposition. Despite the bright opening one of the big talking points of the game came in the eighth minute when an on the ball tussle between Luke Simmonds and Eli Ogunseye lead to the Colliers Wood number nine head-butting Simmonds and being shown a red card. With Colliers Wood down to 10 men, Guildford City kept the pressure on the opposition’s defence without carving out a clear goal scoring opportunity, despite numerous balls being crossed into the box without anyone in red and white able to finish it off.
The Guildford support started to wonder if it would be their day as when Anthony Baker found himself with the ball only eight yards out in a crowded box. His shot deflected off of a defender and looped up into the thankful grasp of the sprawling goalkeeper Lee Pearce. After more opportunities to go a goal up through Baker and Pillay, the first goal of the game came on the 38th minute when Pillay, who had been troubling the opposition’s right back throughout the first half, broke down the left side and played into Stewart who had his shot saved but it fell kindly for Anthony Baker who stroked in the rebound. City have in the past proved vulnerable just prior to the half-time break and Colliers Wood’s first real goal scoring opportunity came from a free kick three minutes into added time, when the ball was floated into the box and with Liam Beach off his line it looked like it was going goal bound, but the 17 year old goal keeper managed to tip it past the post to safety. A minute later the ball was in Colliers Wood’s net again when Anthony Baker broke away from the opposition defence and squared it to Dan Stewart just inside the area. Stewart’s initial effort was miss-kicked but luckily he got a second bite and buried it making it 2-0 at the end of the half and giving Stewart his 12th goal in 15 games.
City started the second half how they finished the first with the home side attacking and putting pressure on the Colliers Wood defence. Four minutes into the half they forced a corner which was crossed into the danger area and headed home by Kris Campbell for his first goal in Guildford City shirt. City now 3-0 up started to take their foot off the gas which let Colliers Wood have more attacking opportunities and in the 57th minute they had their best chance to get on the score sheet so far when Mario Embalo, who has 41 goals this season, found space on the edge of the box but his fierce effort hit the cross bar and City managed to scramble the ball to safety. Guildford City still looked for a fourth goal with Anthony Baker’s powerful effort clearing the crossbar and Dan Stewart’s curling effort just missing the goal. With the game all but over goalkeeper Liam Beach had a kicked pass intercepted, but proving it wasn’t the visitor’s day Beach amazingly got back to make a great diving save with his legs to keep a clean sheet.
Team: Liam Beach, Jordan Taylor, Bruce McPhail, Luke Robertson, Tadej Venta, Kris Campbell, Rory Cornelius (Josh Everard 79), Luke Simmonds, Dan Stewart, Anthony Baker (Nathaniel Williams 66), Kiyanu Pillay (Ishmael Erskine 66). Unused subs: Florin Ramizi
Referee: Stanimor Stayanov
Attendance – 84
