Jarvis Brook 2 (1) v (0) 2 Godalming Town – League

The Gs had to battle to come back from two deflected goals, to be able to salvage a point from this encounter, which was the first in a series of four away games on the trot.

It was the first ever visit to Jarvis Brook for the Gs, I believe. But, it is a welcoming, pretty ground with trees on two sides and a significant slope from one end to the other. And the club seems to have commanded a following of supporters that is far greater than most clubs in this League. Notably they charge only one pound entrance for those over 65! How can that be viable?

The Gs were sporting the usual yellow and green shirts, but shock horror, with black shorts and socks. Another first. Not sure why they were not wearing the white shirts with the thin black stipes that I thought was the away kit now.

To be honest, the home side, once they had weathered the first ten minutes or so of Gs pressure, began to get the upper hand for me, increasingly so as the first half went on. They were moving the ball quickly, moving more quickly to the ball and making breaks, particularly down their flanks.

After about 25 minutes a home player launched a long range lob that seemed to be going over the bar, but it dropped and hit the crossbar before bouncing clear. To the surprise of “Dougie” in the Gs goal.
Only a few minutes later Jarvis Brook were awarded a free kick wide on their right, which came in around waist high. One of their players got a leg to it, and it then deflected off a Gs defender, past Stephen giving him no chance. So, the Gs 1 – 0 down now. Nothing unusual there. We seem to make a habit of it lately. It seemed that the Gs were making a slow start today, rather as we saw against Worthing last week. Would we see a stunning second half again, to turn it around?

Stephen had to be at his best only moments later to first defend a low shot at his near post before having to scamper and dive across to his left to clear a shot/cross that came in and missed everyone else.
In response, as the half was coming to an end, Mark Soares found a little space on the right side of the home penalty area before delivering a great cross that Tayo got up to and made contact with his head, but he could not steer it past the home keeper.

So, it was still 1 – 0 to the home side at half time.

In the second half the Gs did start to ramp things up and got a couple of efforts in from range.
The Gs then produced an attack down their right and Deji Alabi worked his way nearer to the goal line before putting the ball across the face of the goal where it bounced up a bit, off a defenders head, before coming down by the back post where Elliott Creely was waiting to head the ball into the net.
What a season Elliott is having. With the legendary Mc Aleese and Parrott both being out and full backs being broken as well, he has been the glue at the back for me. Now 1 -1 and the Gs back in it.

The relief did not last long, as the home side won a corner on their left, which was not convincingly cleared far enough beyond the penalty area. It was returned in and again a deflection turned the ball past “Dougie” in the Gs goal.

Ali Hadaddji was replaced by Jonny Miller with Cameron dropping back to protect the back four. This did further energise the Gs and from a Mark Soares free kick floated into the box it seemed that the Gs had scored again and equalised, before the linesman flagged that apparently a Gs player had come back from an offside position at the free kick. First yellow card of the game to the home number 6.

Deji Alabi was then subbed off to let Will May stretch his legs, having been out for a few weeks injured.
Cam was called upon to make a great timely defensive tackle on a forward bearing down on the Gs goal. Immediately after that Jonny Miller got in a shot from range that whistled over.

Deji Adeoson went into the refs book for a challenge that he did not like, but looked like a fifty fifty challenge to me. The ref then had a very long chat with one of the home players, but did not show a card. To be fair the ref had a good game for me, it just depends how you interpret things and he was the man in charge. More long range attempts from the Gs.

Louis Lindsay came on to replace and protect Deji Adeosun as he was on a yellow card, I guess.
It was Louis who delivered a great ball into the box from the Gs right side shortly afterwards and Will May rose to head it past the home keeper to bring the scores level again. Great to see Will in working order again, although he said he is not 100per cent – yet.

Joe Morriarty came on at centre back, replacing Nana I think, but I seem to have lost my note on that.
The Gs were battering their hosts at the end and they were clearly concerned that they might loose the point they were hanging on to.

Will and Tayo both had chances that went just wide in the dying minutes, which on another day might have changed the result and Jonny had yet another long range attempt that also went just wide of the mark. But they could not get the winner. All credit to the JB defence.

Starting Squad:- Stephen Douglas, Alex Afful, Elliott Creely, Shi Ndiulor, Malik Shittu, Ali Hadaddji, Deji Adeosun, Cameron Edwin (c), Tayo Adekoa, Mark Soares and Deji Alabi.
Bench:- Louis Lindsay, Jonny Miller, Elroy Weathyland, Will May and Joe Moriarty.

So, a bit disappointing, but a point at least against one of the best sides I have seen this season and we are still at the top of the table, at the moment. So, upwards and onwards to Billingshurst again at their place on Tuesday night in the Div 1 Cup, before another away trip to East Preston on Saturday.
COYGs