Guildford City (2) 3, CB Hounslow United (0) 0
by Barry Underwood
Guildford City bounced back from their midweek defeat with what in the end was a comfortable victory over mid table Hounslow. However the result wasn’t as straight forward as it might seem, and the fact that City goalkeeper Luke Badiali was voted man of the match gives a better indication of the run of the game. That said the home side were worthy of their victory and should have wrapped up the win earlier than they did. The first chance fell in the very first minute when 16 year old Jordan Goater’s excellent crossfield pass was met first time by Suleiman Djalo, although he saw his early effort go wide of the mark. On 10 minutes Guildford went ahead when Shawn Lyle’s drilled effort from fully 35 yards evaded the diving Bradley Vidlier and found the corner of the net. Minutes later Guildford should have been two goals up and only Mario Embalo will know how he missed the target from Will Hoare’s curling cross. The first attacking sign from Hounslow came when a shot drifted just past the post. On the half-hour a defensive error almost gave City another goal; Stuart Bamford slicing a clearance and causing Vidlier to pull off a fine reaction save. Mario Embalo was soon to make up for his earlier miss when he latched on to Jacob Lambe’s pass, narrowly evading an offside decision in the process, and tucking the ball past Vidlier. Hounslow still looked dangerous going forward and Jack Watts found himself in space and bearing down on goal. His effort on goal was brilliantly saved by Luke Badiali, and Darryl Siaw did equally well to clear a second effort off the line at full stretch.
In the early stages of the second period Mario Embalo again found himself in a good position but his shot cleared the crossbar from an acute angle. The battle as the half developed further was to who would score next. A goal for City would in all likelihood clinch the match, whilst a goal for the visitors would set home nerves jangling. Hounslow to their credit pushed forward seeking to get back into the game and City keeper Luke Badiali was several times called into action to defy the visitor’s forwards. On the hour Badiali came out quickly to smother the ball at a striker’s foot, whilst minutes later he saved acrobatically after first punching a threatening cross clear. To be fair City were also pushing forward and there was some skill on show as Jacob Lambe, Shawn Lyle and in particular Darryl Siaw made some impressive runs forward but largely without an end result. After one thrilling Siaw run on 76 minutes Hounslow broke away on the counter-attack and Luke Badiali again had to be quick off his line to save at Harvey Lal’s feet. With just minutes remaining Darryl Siaw embarked upon another strong run forward and after exchanging passes with Alex Rose, Siaw’s effort was cleared off the line for a corner. With a minute left on the clock Guildford scored again to seal their win although there was an air of good fortune about the goal. Mario Embalo’s cross was met on the volley by an unmarked Alex Rose, and although his connection wasn’t as sweet as he would have liked, the ball still found the net under the body of the visitor’s goalkeeper. This was what could be described as a sound performance. There were after all three goals and a clean sheet. Pleasingly though for home supporters there is still more to come from this young side.
Team: Luke Badiali, Suleiman Djalo, Tom Booth, Greg Haydon, Dan Choules, Shawn Lyle, Will Hoare (Dan Akinwande 51), Darryl Siaw, Mario Embalo, Jacob Lambe (Kiye Martin 75), Jordan Goater (Alex Rose 61). Unused subs: Leon Lalor-Dell, Matt Petts.
Referee: Mark Edwards
Attendance – 56
