Windsor (2) 4, Guildford City (1) 2
by Barry Underwood
Guildford City slipped to defeat at Stag Meadow as an impressive home side followed up their Saturday win against Epsom & Ewell with three further points against City. Once again the visitors started a little slowly and it soon became apparent that the pace and trickery of Keanu Williams and Keiran Knight would give the City defence a busy evening. Only two minutes were on the clock when Jordan Clement was called into goal saving action from close range. It wasn’t one way traffic though and for the neutrals it was a game of end to end football. City should have opened the scoring on 12 minutes; Darryl Siaw in space in the box and bearing down on the goalkeeper chose to try and set a colleague up when a shot was in order. Perry Coles doesn’t need a second opportunity to pull the trigger and his 25 yard effort saw Hugo Sobte scramble the ball round the post. Midway through the first half Windsor opened the scoring. Keanu Williams escaped down the right and his low cross was met at the near post by Keiran Knight. Although Windsor always looked dangerous from early balls forward into the channels, Guildford played some good football in their own right. On the half hour Perry Coles volleyed over at the far post, before finally on 36 minutes Jake Downs fed Perry Coles at the edge of the box and he fairly slammed the ball home for the equaliser. Having worked hard to get back on level terms the last thing Guildford needed was going behind just before the break. From a City corner Windsor broke quickly through Keiran Knight. As he raced forward Jordan Clement perhaps unwisely rushed out to intercept but was rounded easily to give Knight a simple opportunity.
The last thing manager Dean Thomas would have wanted was to concede again at the start of the second period. Another long ball was fired across field to Keanu Williams who controlled the ball well before cutting inside and powering a shot into the top corner. The home side were closing Guildford down at every opportunity and City’s playmakers were struggling to find space, and Windsor turned the screw when another long ball was flicked on leading to Keanu Williams having the simple task of side footing home after 52 minutes. City though have shown in pre-season that they can score goals and nobody would have bet against them making a comeback with still 35 minutes left to play. Although City came forward with some frequency and crosses came into box, and the ball was worked around the edge of the box, there just wasn’t that all important break. Alex Penfold scored a wonderful free-kick from 30 yards on 67 minutes to reinvigorate City’s efforts. Greg Haydon saw a long shot go wide, and a good run by Ibby Akanbi sadly ended with a misjudged cross. As Guildford pushed forward gaps opened at the back and Jordan Clement was called into spectacular action on 77 minutes to keep the visitors in the game. A raft of substitutions in the final ten minutes attempted to breathe life into City’s efforts but it was to no avail. The test for this fledgling City side will be how they respond from this defeat. There isn’t long to wait as Chessington visit the Spectrum on Saturday in the FA Cup.
Team: Jordan Clement, Jake Downs, Alex Penfold, Darryl Siaw, Greg Haydon, Bobby Dormer (Shaun Lydon 89), Ibby Akanbi (Lamin Ndoye 78), Jordan Johnson, Perry Coles, Matt Glass, Shawn Clement-Peter (Andre Morais 84). Unused subs: Martin Dynan, Dave Hill.
Referee: Luke Donaldson
Attendance – 142
Match Report: Click Here
