Godalming Town (0) v (0) 0 Infinity – Playoff semi-finals
Infinity win 3-2 on penalties
A couple of days on and the frustration hasn’t gone; best to exorcise the devil, bash this report out and move on. By my reckoning The Gees have beaten every side in this league at least once this season except for Infinity (and bizarrely, Copthorne). The ‘honour’ fell to me to report on both home and away Infinity encounters and football-wise neither of those games, just like this one, will live long in the memory.
Injuries aside, Mo was able to name a strong squad. You will all have your opinions, but for me we had our first five choices out at the back, with Ryan O’Sullivan in goal, and Nana Afful, Rob Parrott, Ollie McAleese and Jack Sherwood lining up right to left in front of him. Captain James Mariner was in his place in the middle of the park, with Deji Adeosun, Mark Soares and Cam Edwin all behind Will May. Jonny Miller completed the line up on the left. James Mansfield, Deji Alabi, Malik Shittu, Elroy Wealthyland and Ross Cheek were on the bench.
In short, the first half didn’t produce a shot on or off target from either side. Cam won a corner which, when it came over, passed just shy of Rob Parrott’s head at the far post. Infinity received an early yellow for a foul on Jack Sherwood but nothing for a worse challenge on Mark Soares minutes later. However, Godalming couldn’t get any meaningful possession in midfield and the ball was rattling around, high up between the two defences for most of the half.
Bar one more corner for each side, a strange decision by the Referee to overrule his Linesman, who had given Godalming an obvious throw in, and an Infinity defender ending up on the wrong side of the perimeter fence on the far side, there end my notes of the first half.
The words ‘cagey’ and ‘tense’ were repeated ad-nauseam during the break and far too many people were getting far too far ahead of themselves just because Arundel were leading in the other semi. The same eleven starters took to the field for the second half, and early doors they struggled to make any in-roads into Infinity. It was the visitors who, after 57 minutes, had the game’s first shot on target. Coming via a long throw, Ryan pulled off a top class save to keep the scores level. 64 minutes and the first Gees change saw Ross Cheek replace Cam. For a time, the game turned Godalming’s way, good build up between Jack and Cheeky saw the ball fall to Mark Soares. Mark turned on the ball and fired and forced the first save out of the Infinity Keeper. Cheeky and Mark then set up Jack who played a great ball into the box that the keeper just about punched clear.
With 15 minutes remaining Deji Alabi came on for Jonny Miller. Another Jack Sherwood cross was cleared away and another Gees corner went disappointingly awry. Nana was replaced by Malik Shittu on 80 minutes. Sully was called into action again to stop an Infinity free kick and Mailk broke down the right, picked up a return from Mark, and won a corner. From it we came the closest to scoring that we did all night as an unidentified yellow head got to the ball, only to see it cleared from the line. There must be some comic relief in every game and here we witnessed an Infinity substitute come up on the rails to take this year’s ‘Best Actor Award for Diving in the Box’. Worse, and no doubt unhappy at not having been booked for his effort, he promptly ploughed into the first Godalming player he saw after the restart to ensure he got that yellow card against his name.
After James Mansfield came on for Deji Adeosun with two minutes left, the Gees had to survive two Infinity corners. The final whistle blew after the last of them had been cleared safely but Ollie McAleese was left on the ground in the area and in clear distress. He’s suffered a dislocated elbow, best wishes to Ollie and, a speedy recovery. He’s been a Star again this season.
We won’t prolong the agony of the penalty shoot-out. All credit to those who stepped up, and it went like this. Mazza missed, Jack Sherwood and Mark Soares both scored, their goals sandwiched between two super saves by Sully, one to his right, one to his left. However, Cheeky and James Mansfield’s kicks were both saved by Sully’s opposite number…………….and ‘That’s All Folks’ as they say.
On reflection then, it’s incredible to believe of recent time that a Godalming Town FC team would ever concede just 27 league goals in a season and before we go, and alongside our defence, we must give credit and an overdue shout to Ryan O’Sullivan; he has had such a strong finish to a season during which he has been awash with clean sheets, and penalty saves.
Ultimately it is a disappointing finale but let’s consider this – We went into this season with a new manager, he’s retained the best of last season’s crop and throughout the season has introduced us
to a bunch of newbies, each of whom have made their mark on the team. They have bonded together as a squad in a way not seen in these parts for years. There isn’t one of these guys, Management and Players, that we don’t want back next season and hopefully we will see them all wearing the yellow jersey again in a few weeks’ time.
Remaining in the calendar is the small matter of the 75th Celebration Night on 23rd May, after which it’s –
COYG’s – Season 2025-2026!