For the second time in three home matches Guildford City FC somehow managed to squander a two goal lead, whilst also falling to a defeat through a penalty deep in stoppage time. Make no mistake this was a game City should have won comfortably after a sparkling first half performance that saw the home side go in at the interval two goals to the good. The City defence included Ray Guilford and Liam Harwood who were returning to the side and they comfortably restricted the visitor’s attack in the opening 45. Two weeks ago at the Spectrum, City gave up a similar two goal lead to Spelthorne and eventually fell to a last ditch penalty. To witness a repeat episode was seriously cruel indeed for City players, officials and the Sweeney who watched the drama unfold.
City’s first real chance on goal fell to new boy Stefan Joseph when Sam Spencer’s pass saw Joseph gain half a yard on the opposition defence, but a last ditch interception saw the chance disappear. Minutes later the same player headed over from Anthony Baker’s cross and then Sam Spencer’s cross from the left almost dropped in, before eventually hitting the top of the crossbar.
City were looking sharp with Jack Guilford and Ben Rayner enjoying plenty of possession in midfield and the seemingly inevitable first goal came on 20 minutes from the left boot of Jordan Taylor; his first goal for the club. Taking the ball from the right edge of the box, Taylor cut past two defenders and fired home low into the corner. City kept up the momentum and on 33 minutes Anthony Baker was brought down in the box as he tried to repeat Taylor’s goal scoring move. Up stepped Sam Spencer to fire City further ahead from the spot to make the score-line a well-deserved 2-0 (as pictured below). Rob Griffiths did head wide for Westfield but it was City who were still posing the problems and a minute before the interval, Stefan Joseph did well to cut into the area but his effort went tamely wide.
HALF-TIME: Guildford City 2 (Taylor, Spencer) – Westfield 0
City have now conceded 17 goals in five competitive matches this season and nearly half of them have been scored between the 40th and 55th minutes of the match, showing a consistent lack of concentration after the break. This was once again the case as Westfield, somewhat fortuitously, were awarded an indirect free-kick just 12 yards out from goal. Substitute Shaun Lydon didn’t waste the opportunity by drilling a low effort into the net via post and defender on the line. Game on.
And the equaliser came when Shaun Elliot scored an excellent goal from 30 yards to bring about on obvious swing in momentum. Sam Spencer then netted for City, but very unluckily a linesman’s flag put a stop to the celebrations. Andy Greaves then saved well with his body in the City goal, but for much of the remainder of the game the chances were falling to the home side. On 74 minutes Craig Bradshaw pulled off a quite fantastic flying save to thwart Jack Guilford, with Sam Spencer firing the resultant rebound over the bar. A minute later, a great run by Stefan Joseph saw Ben Rayner receive the ball in space in front of goal, but his rather tame effort was comfortably saved. With the minutes ticking down, tension was increasing as chance after chance came and went for Guildford.
Anthony Baker was hugely unlucky when his superb volleyed effort was ruled out for offside (as pictured at top) and later still, a fantastic free-kick from Ben Rayner somehow eluded Liam Harwood when it seemed that he must make contact just yards out from goal. Rayner himself headed wide in the fourth minute of stoppage time, but a minute later, with just seconds remaining, Westfield’s Shaun Elliott went down in the box. The referee had no hesitation and up stepped Liam Parrington to break City’s hearts, yet again!
Team: Andy Greaves, Elvis Defreitas, Bruce McPhail, Liam Harwood, Ray Guilford, Ben Rayner, Anthony Baker, Jack Guilford, Sam Spencer, Stefan Joseph, Jordan Taylor. Unused subs: Junior Alade, Yacine Moussi, Ryan Wallis.
Yellow cards: Ray Guilford, Jack Guilford, Stefan Joseph
Referee: Luke Donaldson
Attendance: 109
Barry Underwood