Guildford City (1) 2, Camberley Town (2) 4
by Barry Underwood
City fell to a disappointing defeat at the Spectrum against a Camberley side who played some of their best football of the season. This year City has impressed with their passing game but on this occasion, whether intentionally of otherwise, they tended to resort to a more direct style. Early on both sides traded long throw-ins into the box, and Reece Robins netted for City only for the effort to be ruled out for a narrow offside. Gradually Camberley started to dominate territorially. Robins saw a long-range effort go wide, whilst for Camberley Stan Jones headed straight at the goalkeeper from a good position. It wasn’t really a surprise when Camberley took the lead on 18 minutes with Brandon Vangrove shooting low into the corner from just outside the box. It wasn’t all one-way traffic and six minutes later Manny Acheampong dispossessed the last defender to round the keeper and side foot home. The equaliser lifted Guildford and the game was back in the balance. But on 39 minutes the visitors went in front again. Jacob Terry’s fly-hacked clearance was sliced to Josh Ewing standing by the touchline and not far into City’s half. Alert to the situation Ewing shot towards goal beating the despairing dive of the recovering Terry.
Guildford started brightly in the second period. Tywon Gray found Darnell Jon-Peter in the box. A first-time effort was called for but twisting and turning his effort was blocked. Jon-Peter then cut into the box but his effort went wide. Similarly for Camberley a sliced volley also went wide of the target. On 57 minutes City drew level again. Grummitt palmed out a corner but Nik Krokhin headed the ball back into the danger area where Ben Drake headed home. Camberley responded strongly with Jacob Terry saving well low down. There was no saving Camberley’s third goal a minute later. The ball had been cleared to Xander Ewing some 38 yards out from goal. One touch to steady himself before letting fly and the ball went like a rocket straight into the top corner. There can’t have been a better goal scored anywhere in the country on the day. To round things off Camberley grabbed a fourth goal on 72 minutes courtesy of a fortuitous penalty kick taken by Josh Ewing. Players from both sides agreed after the game that the foul in question was outside the box. Late on Darnell Jon-Peter’s shot was saved low down, and Camberley’s Stan Jones shot on the turn was saved comfortably. But a disappointing performance from City, and a deserved win from the Krooners.
Team: Jacob Terry, Tywon Gray (Tobi Falodi 77), Ben Gambrah (Malachai Cole 70), Ben Drake, Nik Krokhin, Alex Stingelin (Keoindre Ellis-Vassell 77), Reece Robins, Reuben Duncan, Joe Atkin (Freddie Robins 70), Manny Acheampong (Joshua Fitzgerald-Smith 77), Darnell Jon-Peter.
Referee: Ethan Stacey
Attendance – 91
