Woking Utd 0 (0) v (1) 3 Godalming Town

After a terrific performance on Saturday against Forest Row, the Gs came up with three spectacular goals on another freezing cold night on the South Coast, sufficient to warm the hearts of the GTFC faithful supporters and as good as anything that you will see on Match of the Day.  Another tremendous performance from all the squad who put their heart and soul into the game and came away with another impressive result against a strong Worthing side, who are also aiming for the play offs.

On the night the Gs squad was without the legend that is Rob Parrott, on top of the two broken full backs Matt Cox and Jack Sherwood and Deji Alabi was also unavailable.

So, the Gs hero in the number 9 shirt on Saturday Shiloh Ndiulor (Mo’s “box to box”player) demonstrated just that quality as he took his place in the defensive back four, along side Ollie McAleese, with Alex Afful and Malik Shittu the full backs, in front of Ryan O’Sullivan in goal.

James Mariner was in front of them, with Deji Adeosun the midfield general and Cameron Edwin in the number 10 shirt, just behind the returning, Will May up front with the wide players being Jonny Miller and Mark Soares.

An impressive bench boasted a wealth of talent with Louis Lindsay, Conor Stillwell, James Mansfield, Charlie Welch and Darren Xavier.

Make no mistake Worthing are a good physical side and their position in the League bears that out. But on the night they only managed one decent shot on goal, such was the strength of the Gs defence. By that I mean not only the boys at the back, who are fantastic, but the way in which the whole team defended. From Will up front they all did a great stint in defending, when we were not in possession. Long may that continue.

In the opening minutes Deji appeared to be pulled down in the Worthing area, but the ref was not convinced.

The game was pretty level without too many real scoring chances at either end of the pitch. But there were some strong challenges which the referee needed to deal with. Then the first yellow was shown to Nana for a late tackle in front of the main stand within about ten minutes of the kick off.

 About 16 minutes into the game the Gs travelling supporters saw Malik take a throw in near the dugouts, which Deji received and turned, with the grace of a ballet dancer, before dribbling past defenders across the pitch and passing out to Mark on the far side. Mark delivered the ball low into the area, Will getting a touch on it, I think, setting it up perfectly for Cam to produce a powerful dipping shot that went in just below the crossbar, giving the home keeper no chance. The Gs one up with a magnificent goal following an incredible build-up. I was delighted to see Cam get this goal as he puts everything in to his game and thoroughly deserves it.

The home side managed to win several corners, but these were all repelled by the well drilled Gs defence.  The home sides first attempt on target came some 15 minutes later when Ryan was called upon to make a save, diving to his left to save a shot that I think was not cleanly hit and did not seem to cause him any problems.

Worthing continued to press and won some more corners, but the Gs were able to snuff out any danger before any serious shots could be unleashed.

 So, at 1-0 up at half time all seemed really good for the G’s.

Mark has become another fan’s favourite, for good reason. He chased down a long ball out of the Gs defence going wide of the Worthing goal, at first it seemed that the home keeper should be first to it. But Mark really turned on the gas and nicked the ball from the keeper, taking it away from the area before turning and lobbing the ball back across the goal and just inside the far post, to the astonishment of the home side. Will May was also on hand at the far post to watch the ball go over the line.  A brilliant individual goal that he also deserves for the amazing work that he puts in.

A couple of minutes later there was a bit of a kerfuffle when Ollie McAleese seemed to be felled by the home number 9 around the half way line and was shown a yellow card for his efforts.

The Gs were now compressing the home side and not letting them out of their half.

Conor Stillwell came on to replace captain Mazza and rest him for the next encounter. We are blessed with so much quality in the squad.

Jonny Miller came off to a lot of appreciative applause, to see Louis Lindsay come on in more of a central position. Straight away Louis was getting stuck in and chasing down the home side alongside Cam.

 James Mansfield then came on for Will May having made a good return to the squad.

Then the Gs produced their third outstanding goal when Mark started a move down the right before another bout of rapid interplay between the Gs lads including Deji and James before the ball found its way back to Mark who made some space for himself, moving across the area, before hitting a fantastic shot that found its way inside the far post.

 Mark came close to a hat trick a little later.

Charlie Welch came on to replace Nana who has made the right back position his own.  Darren Xavier made an appearance, up front this time, showing the adaptability of the squad.

Three absolutely superb goals and a second 3 points added in as many days to keep the pressure on the others in the chase.

In summary, well worth the trip and a memorable game for the Gs who are playing some super football now and it looked to me as if there were as many Gs supporters as their were home supporters. Great stuff. So, do get along to watch and cheer them along.

Next up. Banstead at home on Saturday 2pm kick off.

COYG’s