Guildford City will be wondering quite how they didn’t manage take all three points from this visit to Combined Counties Premier new boys Mole Valley SCR. The visitors raced into a 2-0 lead before MVSCR stormed three goals in a little over 15 minutes. Joel Greaves levelled shortly before the break to bring an end-to-end half to a finish. City dominated the second period however, and only the woodwork and goalkeeper Anthony Guiney prevented a host of chances from crossing the goal line.
Simon Cooper took advantage of a lapse of concentration in the hosts’ defence as he placed a free kick into the top corner after just two minutes. Guiney then brought down Joel Greaves as the City striker tried to round him. The resulting penalty was saved, but Joel Greaves calmly controlled the rebound and slotted home to double the lead.
Only after this did Mole Valley rejoin the party, starting to pressurise the City defence. Their breakthrough came after some good work on the right hand side allowed a cross to the dangerous Jay Holden who slid the ball home. With the City defence on the back foot, MVSCR pressed harder and equalised in the 29th minute after Richard Smith looped a fantastic shot over the reach of Antony Hall. Just two minutes later the hosts exploited a quick free kick of their own to take the lead through Adrian Butler.
This period of play awoke Guildford, who had three excellent chances in succession. Ben Rayner, Simon Cooper and Greaves all went close before the latter got a touch to a superb cross to level the scores. And there was still time before the break for City to hit the bar form an indirect free kick, and for the impressive Greaves to shoot just wide.
After such an entertaining first half, the second half started poorly. The game sparked into life after the introduction of Jack Guilford. A poor clearance was met by City’s committed midfielder Will Heavey who curled his shot just wide of the post. Antony Hall came to the rescue, saving at the feet of an oncoming striker during a rare foray into the City half. The hosts were then reduced to ten men after a rash challenge earned a second yellow card for Matthew Kilty.
After struggling in the opening minutes, Anthony Guiney redeemed himself with a string of excellent saves in the final quarter of an hour. First he denied Simon Cooper’s deft flick by pushing it onto the bar, and saved from Joel Greaves at close range. With Guildford pressing, it was Greaves once more who nearly scored the winner in the 93rd minute, but his shot was deflected inches over the bar.
