Guildford City (3) 4, CB Hounslow United (0) 3
by Barry Underwood
Guildford City and CB Hounslow played out a seven goal festive thriller at the Spectrum on Saturday, with City just coming through to claim the three points. The drainage on the Spectrum pitch again proved its worth with the match going ahead unlike a number of other CCL matches. Guildford started the match brightly and indeed throughout the first half they enjoyed plenty of possession. The visitors strangely seemed to sit back and watch the home side pass the ball through their ranks. It was no surprise when City took the lead on seven minutes. Jordan Gallagher put Dan Stewart in space on the right and his low cross was met by Nathaniel Williams who converted with a simple tap in. Guildford suffered a blow on 25 minutes when the skipper Nemo Adams limped off having tweaked a groin. Harrison Livingstone did force Luke Badiali into a fine save, but on 27 minutes City were two goals to the good; Dan Stewart turned in the box to drill a low shot under the diving Forster. City was still dominating and just after the half hour they had scored again. Robbie Mundow unleashed a free-kick from 30 yards which Forster failed to hold. Dan Stewart’s follow up was bravely blocked by the prone Forster, but Jordan Gallagher was on hand to shoot home the loose ball.
It was unlikely that Hounslow would play as poorly in the second half and that proved to be the case. From the off it was apparent that the visitors were a different looking side and it was game-on just four minutes into the half when City failed to clear and Tommy O’Neill hit a right foot effort inside the far post. Twice the visitors hit the woodwork following free-kicks. Firstly Badiali made an initial save and Luke Beale in attempting a clearance smashed the ball against his own cross bar. Later from a similarly placed free-kick Harrison Livingstone smashed an effort against the bar. City thought they had made the game safe on the hour. Great footwork from Dan Stewart took him into the box where his trickery was only ended when he was wrestled to the floor. Referee Walker pointed to the spot and the Hounslow defender was shown a red card. Dan Stewart stepped up to convert from the spot and once again City was three goals up. Down to 10 men as they were it didn’t deter Hounslow. From another free-kick Harrison Livingstone drilled a low effort through the wall and past Luke Badiali. City’s danger man Dan Stewart came close to scoring a fifth when he cut in from the left but his effort deflected inches wide of the post for a corner. On 83 minutes City themselves went down to 10 men when Luke Simmonds was harshly shown a straight red for seemingly winning a headed challenge. Deep in stoppage time Hounslow themselves won a penalty which Livingstone smashed into the top corner and for a further minute or so there was some tension that City might not gain the reward their overall performance deserved. In the end City did claim the points and they now go into a tough January fixture list where they face the top four sides in the league.
Team: Luke Badiali, Chris Tancock, Shaun Johnson, Luke Beale, Nemo Adams (David Burton 25), David Opoku, Robbie Mundow (Miguel Anderson 67), Kiye Martin (Luke Simmonds 78), Dan Stewart, Jordan Gallagher, Nathaniel Williams. Unused sub: Francois Gabbidon.
Referee: Errol walker
Attendance – 65
