Ringmer 0 (0) v (0) 1 Godalming Town – League

A single goal was enough to settle this encounter and keep the Gs at the top of the table, on a day when the weather had more control of the game than either team. The question was asked, “If a referee can decide that a pitch is unplayable because of the weather, such as surface water, can he not do so because of high winds”? Having travelled to Ringmer along with a very significant contingent of the Gs faithful, I would have been pretty upset if it had been cancelled, but it certainly had a massive influence.
First trip to Ringmer and I must say ,that it had some impressive facilities and bar (more Scampi Fries) and a welcoming bunch of supporters.

In goal was Stephen Douglas with a centre back pairing of Elliott Creely and Jack Sherwood, and Alexander Afful and Matt Cox the wing backs. Ali Haddadji in front of them with Deji Adeosun in the boiler room and Cam Edwin in the number 10 position. Will May in the number 9 shirt and Mark Soares wide one side and Nasim Regragui the other. On the side lines hoping not to get blown away were Shi Ndiulor, Louis Lindsay, Sam Fernley, Elroy Wealthyland and a new name to the Gs in Tayo Adekoya.
Can I just say that we have a tremendous squad at present, so that even with a number of significant injuries to deal with, we can still put out exceptional teams and one such gentleman is Jack Sherwood. He has been an absolute stalwart of the GS team for several seasons and I am so pleased to see him sporting the captains armband recently.

In the first half the Gs were playing into the wind and at times the seagulls over head were flying backwards, as was the ball much of the time, when it was lifted into the air.
Nasim and Mark linked up a couple of times with some smart passing and back heels, which worked well on the 3G pitch, but did not lead to any shots on goal.

Only eleven minutes from the kick off Matt Cox stretched his legs down the left side and delivered a great shoulder height cross into the 6 yard box, where Will May dived to get his head to the ball, but could not get quite enough contact to find the net. It would have been a classic, if it had come off.
The home side then won a corner from which the they also failed to steer the ball towards the target.
Soon after, their number four went into the referee’s book for a foul.

There was then a long range wind assisted shot that Stephen parried away, but the return shot was goal-bound until Jack managed a goal line clearance. Then, shortly after the home keeper went down, in my opinion making the most of what he felt was some contact with a Gs player, there was then a melee, some 10 metres away on the edge of the Ringmer penalty area, which resulted in both Nasim and the Ringmer number four being shown red cards, so both sides down to ten men.

There was still time in for the home side to hit the crossbar with a long range wind assisted effort. So, in very testing conditions, it was probably a relief for Mo’s team to go off for half time still 0 – 0.

Only minutes into the second half in this rather crazy game, that was something of a lottery, having restarted playing more passes along the ground than we had seen previously and moving the ball side to side, the Gs then unleashed a long ball, which Mark chased down as the home keeper came out and both went down and needed treatment on the pitch. The referee after talking with his lino then raised a red card to the Ringmer keeper and he was off, the tall home No 9 taking the gloves. On top of that the Gs were awarded a penalty that Mark confidently put away, to finally give the Gs a lead. I was surprised to see their keeper sent off. Seems double jeopardy to me. But the ref made his views clear.

Another yellow card to the home side for a player kicking the ball away. He was promptly subbed off.
Captain Cam then was replaced giving the arm band to Deji Adeosun. Sam Fernley coming on in front of Matt Cox on the left and within minutes he showed his pace again getting past his marker and chipping the ball in and hitting the crossbar. Rather reminiscent of events at Wey Court a week or so back.
Some minutes later Coxey was subbed off, with Sam dropping to left back and Tayo Adekoya joined the fray.

With such an advantage of wind assistance it would have seemed sensible to try to shoot from range. Ali certainly thought so and he delivered a powerful attempt from near the half way line that for a moment I thought had hit the spot from the noise it made, but in fact had just cleared the bar. Three more subs came on for the Gs Elroy making his 50th appearance, Louis and Shi coming on for Deji, Ali and Will.
Ringmer number 6 also booked by the ref.

Lots of huff and puff from the Gs, but few real attempts on the home goal before the game eventually finished. With The Gs 1-0 in front. Time to move on “To Infinity and beyond” away again next week. A big challenge that we need to be 100% up for.

COYGs’