Abbey Rangers (1) 2, Guildford City (0) 4
by Barry Underwood
After a below par performance at Cobham on Saturday, Guildford returned to form with an exciting come back victory at old rivals Abbey Rangers. Abbey had started the league season with two wins and they looked a confident side in the first half. They came close to taking the lead after 11 minutes when Abbey found a way through the City backline and Jacob Terry was forced to save well with his legs. Abbey enjoyed more possession but City did well to defend a series of corners and long-throws. City had forays forward and twice Darnell Jon-Peter saw long range shots comfortably saved. Guildford came close to scoring on 33 minutes. Benji Gambrah and Jon-Peter combined well leading to Ben Drake’s powerful effort which was saved well by Shay Honey. It seemed that the half would be goalless until on the cusp of the interval the home side won a penalty. A bouncing ball in the City box struck a hand and Kelvin Karanja drove home the spot kick to give the home side an interval lead.
Five minutes after the restart Abbey went two ahead when a low cross was expertly fired home by Brad Marshall. The home side may have felt that the game was won, but this Guildford City side had other ideas. Within two minutes they had pulled a goal back. Some crisp passing led to Benji Gambrah firing into the roof of the net from an acute angle. It was an open game at this point. Abbey responded by heading just over from a cross, and then Jacob Terry saved low down at the expense of a corner. On the hour Kainen Oragbade arrived off the bench and helped change the match in City’s favour. On 68 minutes Guildford equalised. With a never say die attitude Darnell Jon-Peter charged down the goalkeeper to block his clearance and shoot home the loose ball. Guildford stormed forward and Shay Honey made a good double save to deny Oragbade. On 77 minutes Darnell Jon-Peter repeated his trick and robbed a defender of possession giving him the chance to fire home a low effort into the corner of the net. Guildford were now in front but could they go on to claim the three points? Five minutes into stoppage time Sweeney nerves eased when Kainen Oragbade shot past the despairing Honey into the net. Guildford almost made it five when Freddie Robins effort from distance entered the net a second after the final whistle sounded.
Team: Jacob Terry, Alex Rodway-Brown (Freddie Robins 60), Tobi Falodi, Ben Drake, Jake Brown, Joe Atkin, Daniel Munongo (Kainen Oragbade 60), Malachai Cole, Darnell Jon-Peter (Keoindre Ellis-Vassell 83), Manny Acheampong (Tobi Shoyoye 73), Benji Gambrah (Elvis Kwashie 83).
Referee: Andreas Anastasiou
Attendance – 94