Godalming Town 2 (0) v (1) 1 Loxwood FC

The Gs mounted a terrific second half come back to take all three points, after their visitors had gone in front, direct from a corner in the first half, despite the Gs having the better of the chances, without converting them.

The opening game of the new season saw Loxwood, who had been relegated from the Premier Division, meet the Gs for the first time in a while. But the most of the Gs squad were very well-known faces with almost all of last years squad being back on duty. Only Fabio Suarez in goal made his debut in the League as did Ali Haddadji, but even he was signed last year although he did not feature.

With Ollie Mc Aleese still out of action, and likely to be so until Christmas, it had looked like we would be without Rob Parrott as well when he suffered a rather nasty cut to his head in a recent pre-season friendly. But he is made of tough stuff and was there again at the heart of the defence, which was so effective last season.

So, Rob was partnered by Shi Ndiulor with his athleticism and pace alongside Jack Sherwood and Alex Affull as the left and right back respectively with James Mariner in front. Elroy Wealthyland and Deji Adeosun in the middle and Will May leading the forward line supported by Cameron Edwin and Mark Soares as the wide players.

A mighty impressive bench featured James Mansfield, Malik Shittu, Matt Cox, Ali Hiddadji, and Jonny Miller.

 The Gs were doing well in the opening minutes and only about 7 minutes from kick off the ball came diagonally into the Loxwood penalty area, as Will May was on the far side and closing in. The visiting keeper seemed to misjudge the flight of the ball and it went over him. Will was there and headed towards the goal, only to see his effort rattle the crossbar and bounce clear.

The Gs then won a free kick, which Rob got his head to, but that went over the bar. The visitors then made the best of an error in defence, which allowed a Loxwood player to chase the ball to the goal line before squaring the ball across the face of Fabio’s goal. Fortunately for the home side there was no one on hand to tap it home.

After a small series of errors in the G’s defence Loxwood came closer than they had so far when they advanced down their left and Fabio was required to block the ball turning it round for a corner. Unfortunately, from that corner Loxwood found the inside of the far post direct from the corner, so the Gs were now one nil down.

The play went back down the other end and the Gs won several corners and free kicks from which Rob and Will manufactured attempts on goal, but they went either too high or wide to level the score.

So, at half time the home side were 1 – 0 down.

Around ten minutes in from the restart Manager for the day Jack Webb made some changes, bringing on Jonny Miller for Elroy who had covered so much ground as always. Then Ali Hiddadji came on for James Mariner.

Jonny Miller was getting into the action and squared the ball well, but the visiting keeper parried it away before we saw the ball coming back in from the right-hand side into the area, where Will May managed to slip the ball cleverly through to Mark Soares who brilliantly made space for himself before he hit the ball past the Loxwood keeper, as he came out, to level the score. Great composure from Mark under pressure.

Only minutes later Mark hit another great shot from the edge of the box that dipped wickedly and crashed against the bar and went over.

Only moments later Mark whipped in a corner from the Gs right side, which Will headed, steering the ball goalwards and Cam was on hand to make sure it went over the line, from close range giving the home side the lead for the first time.  All within about 5-6 minutes of scintillating football from the Gs to the delight of their supporters.

 Ali was making an impact and delivered a stinging shot from way out that the visiting keeper had to use all of his height to get up to as it was about to creep in under the bar.

Towards the end Malik, came on to replace Mark some minutes before the referee blew for full time.

OK, we were perhaps not quite up to speed in the first half, but it was clear that we have a great squad who delivered in the end, showing determination and grit, not to mention a good deal of skill, to get the result. A great result to open our account for this season.

Next up:- Tuesday night Reigate Priory in the Peter Bentley Cup at Wey Court.

COYGs