Sheerwater U23s 3 (1) v (0) 3 Godalming Town FA Premier Cup quarter final
(Pens: 4 – 3)

The Gs bowed out of this Cup competition after the result was settled on penalties the Gs loosing 4-3 in the shoot out after both goalies made excellent saves.

After a short spell of tee shirt and shorts weather, it was back to the winter coats and scarves as the temperature was plummeting again at the Eastwood Sports Centre. Finding the way to the pitch from the car park was rather challenging and unusual for non league, but good once you worked it out.

Several of the regulars were taking a rest and being a cup encounter Ollie Ballam was back between the posts, with Charlie Welch, Rob Parrott, Shi Ndiulor and Malik Shittu in front of him. Elroy Wealthyland, and Deji Adeosun (captain for the evening) in front of them. James Mansfield in the number 10 position. Wide players Deji Alabi and Louis Lindsay with Will May in the number nine shirt.  Another strong bench featuring Cameron Edwin, Mark Soares, Jack Sherwood, Conor Stillwell and Darren Xavier. Ollie McAleese and James Mariner were also in the crowd as were former Gs legends Luke Beale and Liam Avery.

From the off the game was played at breakneck speed and I assume it would slow down as the game went on. I got that wrong. It was a frenzied game with all sorts of action all over the pitch. I think the crowd were all pretty well exhausted at the end of play, as well as the players.

It may have been that the Gs took a little while to get accustomed to the pace of the artificial surface, that was so flat you could have played marbles on it, as a number of through balls were over hit.

Only minutes in we saw a good corner, out on the right, delivered by Louis, which Will met well with his head and the ball was heading inside the far post, before it was scrambled away by the home defence.

 The home side were probably edging possession, mid-way through the first half, but not much on target from either side despite the frantic pace at which the game was being played. None of the Premier League, side-to-side then back to the keeper stuff.

The referee was allowing a fair bit of physical stuff to go unpunished from both sides. But from one free kick 30 yards out on the right James Mansfield hit a cracking shot that only just cleared the bar.

Then the first yellow card to the home number 2 for a pretty late tackle on Will.

Then, 20 minutes or so in, another Gs corner from their left, appeared to me to have been bundled over the line,  but the officials were not having it.

Later in the half the home side were awarded a corner on their right, which was initially taken, before the referee decided it should be taken again, as the ball according to the linesman was still moving . From the re-take the home side opened the scoring with a well struck header into the corner giving Ollie no chance.

Will was again the subject of another clattering challenge 10 yards outside the home penalty area and the ref gave another stern talking to, to a home player.

There was then a delay to play as the ref appeared to be chatting to Rob, too far away for me to understand what it was about.

So, at the halfway mark, the Gs were 1 -0 down. But they have been in that position a few times lately and turned things around. The ref still swapping jokes with Rob as they walked off the pitch.

Not a bad first half but disappointing that we did not manage more attempts on target.

Only minutes after the restart Deji latched onto a ball on the left side and worked his way into the penalty area as the home keeper came out , to block him, but Deji cleverly worked his way around him close to the goal line, but chose to play the ball back into the middle and the best Gs chance so far fizzled out.

Then Mo made three changes bringing on Jack, Cameron and Mark Soares for Charlie, Malik  and James.

The Gs then looked livelier to me for a while., but that encouraged some more strong tackles.

Then Deji Adeosun  produced one of his great breaks through the middle, before the ball was hit in by Rob Parrott to bring the Gs back level at 1 -1.

 Sheerwater won a corner on their right and went ahead again with a re-run of the goal they scored in the first half, hitting the net with a strong header for about 6 yards out in front of the far post by the same player I believe.

Another good attack from the Gs saw Rob Parrott moving up the pitch, before he was fouled but as the ball ran through to Cam the ref played advantage. Cam took the ball into the area before he was also brought down so a second yellow to the home number two and he was off, as the referee pointed to the spot.

Will stepped up and converted the penalty hard and low into the net. Score levelled again.

 Deji Alabi seemed to pick up a knock, so made his way uncomfortably, off the pitch. Conor came on and, as is his way, was straight into the action and received what I thought was a pretty harsh yellow card.

In this crazy game, by now defenders were charging forward and generally going anywhere. Plenty going on and entertaining certainly.

The Gs were putting together some good stuff and Mark was working his magic, before some smart inter passing saw him ,hit a cracking shot that brought an equally great save from the home stopper managing to turn the ball onto upright and away.

 Unfortunately, with the tempo still at maximum and play ping ponging from one end of the pitch to the other, there was an error in the Gs defence that gifted an opportunity to the home side to go ahead for the third time, which they took.

Another great attempt from Mark, with a shot from the edge of the area, hit on the volley, brought another cracking save from the Sheerwater keeper. Tipping the shot around at full stretch for a corner.

The resulting corner saw the ball come in just above head height to the near post, where I thought Rob Parrott got his head to it, to turn it into the net, but I see it has gone down as an own goal. I am sure Rob will have an opinion about that.

So, it was scores levelled, just moments before full time was signalled by the ref.

A frantic, manic game that in the end would be settled by a shoot out. While the home side came out the winners, Ollie Ballam made a great stop of his own, when the Gs were already one down in the shoot out, giving that spark of hope back that we were still in it. Unfortunately, it was not to be, but onwards and upwards to the next home game on Saturday, when we will all see the new floods in operation at Wey Court.

COYG’s