Godalming Town 5 (3) v (0) 0 Banstead Athletic

Godalming Town kept the train a rollin’ on Saturday, chalking up three more points and five goals to boot with their third win in eight days. Before kick-off some worrying news came down from up top on the pitch as the spectators were assembling below though: Sully had broken a finger in the warm-up. Decision: Ollie Ballam, who was on hand as a civilian, was dispatched home to get his PE kit, while Sully, patched up by Steve Snelling, would start and ‘see how things were’. With a quick alteration to the original team sheet, Ollie replaced Shiloh Ndiulor, carrying a knock anyway, who was originally named on the bench.

With the Goalkeeper position sorted, at least for the kickoff, the rest of the line-up saw Rob Parrott, unavailable on Tuesday, returning to the back four to partner Nana Afful, Ollie McAleese and Malik Shittu. Cameron Edwin was suspended and Mark Soares unavailable, so the other six starters were Captain James Mariner, of course, in the midfield with Elroy Wealthyland, Deji Adeosun and Jonny Miller. Will May was supported by James Mansfield up front and thus reuniting the three J.M.’s in the side. Substitutes alongside Ollie Ballam were Charlie Welch, Deji Alabi, Jack Sherwood and Conor Stillwell.

An early cross by Jonny Miller was cleared and Will May went down under a heavy challenge with no free kick awarded. The Banstead keeper was fortunate to get down to rob James Mansfield, set up by Jonny picking up a Mazza through ball. Nana jumped over a wild tackle, again no whistle, while Steve Snelling was called on to treat the Linesman on the far side who managed to get accidentally flattened somehow. With Ollie having returned with his PE kit and making his way to the bench, Sully passed his first test punching away Banstead’s first corner.  Jonny Miller picked up on that clearance, advanced over the halfway line and played in Elroy Wealthyland, Elroy’s shot rebounded back to him from the Banstead keeper, but he buried the second chance in the back of the net. 1-0 after just 9 minutes played.

Our Referee was clearly one to keep the game flowing, but as the first half progressed Rob Parrott and then Malik Shittu joined a list of Godalming players denied free kicks for being at the wrong end of some iffy challenges. 25 minutes in and Rob was on hand to break up the first attack by Banstead since their earlier corner. Shortly after, Mazza was down on the halfway line when the Ref stopped the game for him to be treated. He left the pitch, and the game restarted with a drop ball on the edge of the Gees area. The ball was allowed to drift along the goal line before once again Rob was on hand to plant it up field to safety. Will May was just beaten to the ball when a chance presented itself after Malik played him in on goal. Nana then picked up the ball, found James Mansfield who turned it on to Will. Will’s run in the box was halted as he was bundled over and the ref pointed to the spot. Mazza smacked the spot kick to his left as the keeper dived to his left, 2-0 and 41 minutes on the clock. In added time Elroy came close to a second goal, latching on to an Ollie McAleese long ball and resulting in a Gees corner. James Mansfield took it from the right and the head of James Mariner rose at the far post to head in his second and Godalming’s third goal. 3-0 at the half time whistle.

With Sully’s finger clearly holding up there were no changes for the second half. Will was again brought down without winning a free kick and conversely Rob was perhaps a tad fortunate not to see yellow for a challenge on the edge of our box, the free kick going well over the bar. On 60 minutes Deji Adeosun gave way for Conor Stillwell to join the game. Without being complacent it was already looking ‘job done’ out there, James Mansfield had a long-range effort saved and later picked up a yellow card as again we conceded a free kick on the edge of our area, this time Sully saved easily. With 70 minutes gone by, Charlie Welch came on for Nana. James Mansfield and Jonny combined well, and James’ shot was parried by the Keeper, Will was on to the re-bound but couldn’t keep the ball down. He got his name on the score sheet four minutes later as Mazza passed to Rob who hit the ball long on the right, Will collected, took the ball to the goal line and juggled into the six-yard box before shooting home from a tight angle, 4-0.

A double substitution followed the goal, Ollie McAleese coming off for Jack Sherwood and Elroy for Deji Alabi. Deji promptly won a corner, and we had the distraction of the taking of it being held up while a loose Banstead boot was being thrown around the pitch, the dugout and goal line. it’s a tough job, tying shoelaces. When the play resumed Jonny Miller’s shot went just over the bar. On to the 83rd minute and a James Mansfield pass found Deji, he appeared to stumble on the ball, but it was pounced on by Conor Stillwell. Conor’s ball to the still-advancing James Mansfield looked a tad long and the Banstead Keeper got there first, but he somehow skied the ball upwards and away from him. The race to the ball between James and the Keeper was won by our man in yellow and the score moved to 5-0. The final Banstead effort came from another free kick conceded on the edge of the area and thankfully the ball didn’t get past the wall. Will broke with it and was wrestled to the ground just shy of the halfway line, the Banstead man seeing a yellow card.

Let us not be greedy but it could have been six with three chances created by the Gees in the remaining moments as both James Mansfield and Deji Alabi had shots saved. Deep into the five minutes of injury time Deji won a final corner, up went the Skipper and how could we have forgotten, Mazza was on a hat trick again! It would have made a great ending but was spoilt as the incoming corner ball passed inches over his head.

Final whistle 5-0, another superb effort all round and we move on to the next challenge this Saturday, away at Selsey, 3pm.

COYG’s