Godalming 0 (0) v (0) 0 Erith & Belvedere
Godalming 2 v 4 Erith & Belvedere (penalties)

It is always a disappointment to go out of the FA Vase competition, but the performance from the whole squad was tremendous today, taking their Step 5 visitors to the lottery that is a penalty shoot out without conceding a goal. In fact the Gs were the better side in the first half having more territory and chances on goal than their victors, who only managed one proper attempt in the first 45 minutes, much to the frustration of their management team.

Ollie Ballam, who had such a good game at C & H in the Peter Bentley Cup encounter was between the posts again with Ollie McAleese and Rob Parrott the centre backs and Matt Cox and Jack Sherwood making up the normal back four, with James Mariner in front of them and Conor Stillwell and Athan Smith-Joseph in the boiler room. Cameron Edwin upfront with Elroy Wealthyland and Jonny Miller the wide players. A strong bench featured Nana Afful, Asa Goodsell, Jason Cotton and Ismaila Doumbia.

A few hours of rain preceded the game, but fortunately for the spectators it eased off as the play started. Last week it was tee shirts and shorts for the supporters and water breaks for the players. Talking of clothing, the Gs were in their normal yellow shirts with blue shorts but with black socks, whilst the visitors were sporting an all pink strip with white socks. Presumably the Gs had had to change socks so as to differentiate from their guests.

In the opening minutes Jonny Miller managed to manufacture an improvised half chance, shooting through a muddle of defenders that required the E & B keeper to stretch and dive to save it.

 But, the visitors had a strong and well organised defence to match that of the home side. The Gs made some chances when Cam created some super flick-ons with his head, while under the close attention of the opposition central defenders.

 On 30 minutes the visitors did give us a bit of a scare with there only serious chance of the first half when during a break from defence they seemed to get three players in on goal only and bearing down on Ollie but Jack Sherwood produced a great brave tackle to foil their chance.

 The Gs continued to press and Jonny Miller worked his way through the visiting defenders from the right and received the ball onto his left foot to get in a good shot that the visiting stopper needed to go full length to parry the ball away. The ball went frustratingly close to Elroy, but he was unable to make contact. Only moments later the ball was played forward again by the Gs and the E & B keeper came out to claim it and clashed with his own defender, bringing them both down on the edge of their area and the ball spun loose. Frustrating, as the Gs could not profit from the mistake, as Cam and Athan had both run past the bodies on the floor.

Another cross from the right saw Elroy beat the offside line but he could not control the ball only metres from the far post.

At half time it was still goalless and the Gs must have realised that they just might be able to deliver an upset. A terrific performance.

The second half started without changes on either side.

 E & B seemed to change tactics and played a long ball down the middle, on the break, but the shot went wide.

Then Jonny Miller, after some clever play, delivered the ball in from the right where Cam managed to put the ball in the net only for it to be ruled out as offside.

E & B from a corner on their right saw the ball go beyond the far post where a player delivered a strong shot, but Matt Cox was on hand and headed it clear. He had a terrific game going down the right flank and inter-passing with Jonny Miller and Cam.

 Then as the Gs won a corner at the other end Ollie McAleese, despite being a fair bit shorter than the opposition backs, was able to produce a header, but it went just over the bar, to his obvious annoyance.

The visitors made the first  changes in personnel. They won a few free kicks, which were doggedly defended by the Gs defence, which were having none of it. With them all putting their bodies in when needed . Ollie needed treatment from Steve to put him back together again.

Elroy was clearly feeling the effects of a challenge and along with Jonny he was substituted to make way for Asa and Nana to replace them.

Matt Cox continued making runs down the right and delivered a cross that fell to Cam whose header unfortunately went just wide.

 Conor was also subbed off having played a blinder again seeing Cam sit back in midfield to allow Jason Cotton to come on in a wide position. 

Rob Parrott was making runs into the opposition goal area looking for that final shot or header.

But, at the end although the step 5 had more of the territory in the second 45 minutes, it was still 0-0 at the final whistle. So, it was all down to the dreaded shoot out.

With the visitor’s keeper saving the first effort from the Gs captain, who had been immense throughout the match, it was going to be an uphill battle and in the end with Cam’s attempt going wide, it only remained for the visitors to hold their nerve and they did.

All the Gs squad were terrific today. Every one of them did us proud and I am sure that thanks are due to Mo and Jack for that. We saw forwards doubling up and defending when they needed to, and heroic defending alongside huge efforts from the midfield who ran and tackled time and again. Huge thanks to you all.

Onwards to yet another encounter with Chessington and Hook on Tuesday night, this time in the League. Hope the lads all recover quickly and that the floods hold out.

COYG’s