In glorious Easter sunshine Westfield and Guildford City battled out a hard fought draw at Woking Park that keeps City off of the foot of the table. With top scorer Anthony Baker and Bruce McPhail missing from the line up with work commitments, City was forced into another reshuffle. Credit though the players versatility as the visitors started brightly from the off and whilst fans were still taking their positions centre-back Tadej Venta headed a free-kick against the Westfield post. Fear not the opening goal was not long delayed. A fine Kris Campbell pass set young winger Kiyanu Pillay free down the left flank where he went past his man in the corner and cut in before crossing low to fellow youth teamer Rory Cornelius who turned the ball home with just three minutes on the clock. Although direct chances on goal became few and far between, City still looked comfortable and it was something of a surprise on 20 minutes when Michael Milne was given too much space on the edge of the box to turn and drill a low shot into the corner. With the momentum of the game having turned Westfield took the lead just two minutes later. A corner wasn’t cleared and home skipper Matt Steer hooked the ball beyond the reach of the diving Liam Beach. Two goals in short order quietened Guildford’s vocal Sweeney but gradually the visitors worked their way back into the game. Dan Stewart saw a shot from the edge of the box palmed wide by Stuart Norman, and Kiyanu Pillay got goal-side of a defender to head just wide of the post. Westfield did have two late chances in the half; Shane Cheeseman shooting wide and Liam Beach turning a shot following a corner round the post.
Once again City opened the half brightly and on 51 minutes they brought the scores level. Florin Ramizi ran at the defence and when it looked as if he had held the ball too long he found Dan Stewart whose first time effort from 18 yards found the corner of the net. Westfield’s main threat during the second period came from a succession of corner kicks that arrowed in under the crossbar, but 17 year old Liam Beach and the City defence dealt with the pressure superbly. Indeed the nearest Westfield came to getting on the score sheet again was when Jordan Taylor was somewhat harshly adjudged to have passed the ball back to his goal keeper and from the resultant free-kick just seven yards from goal the ball was blocked on the line and cleared. Liam Beach was called into spectacular action to save a deflected effort from James Mariner but late in the game it was City who looked likely to get a late winner. Kris Campbell forced a diving save from Norman from a corner and after an unlikely run and cross by big Tadej Venta, Kiyanu Pillay had a fierce effort on goal blocked at full stretch by Jack Hollins. Few would argue that a draw wasn’t a fair result and City now move on to Raynes Park Vale on Thursday evening.
Team: Liam Beach, Jordan Taylor, Luke Simmonds, Myles Jones, Tadej Venta, Kris Campbell, Florin Ramizi, Jack Collins, Dan Stewart, Rory Cornelius, Kiyanu Pillay. Unused subs: Ishmael Erskine, Josh Everard, Harry Shipton.
Referee: Peter Meek
