Godalming Town 1 (0) v (0) 0 Dorking Wanderers B – League
It was back to ‘Winning Ugly’ at home to Dorking after first the downs, but ultimately the ups, of the last two matches. After those saw thirteen goals and a penalty shoot-out it was just the one, solitary but crucial, goal which settled this game. Only four matches survived the weather, and this win puts Godalming Town 8 points clear at the top of the league. The chasing pack has games in hand, and we can debate the ‘points in the bag’ vs ‘games to be played’ argument as the season progresses. The jury is still out on ‘B’ teams in league football, this Dorking side however looked more like the Academy side they bill themselves as and gave the Gees a stern test.
The team news – No Mark Soares, our 17-goal man resting a knock and Tayo Adekoya also sitting out, serving a one match suspension. Steve Douglas was in goal with Sam Fernley at right back and Elroy Wealthyland on the left leaving the Centre back berths to Elliot Creely and Joe Moriarty. Captain Cam Edwin in front of them was joined by Deji Adeosun, Louis Lindsay and Jonny Miller. Deji Alabi sitting behind Will May up front completed the starting 11. Both Nana Afful, back from his suspension, and Shiloh Ndiulor were available again and joined James Mariner, Danilo Carvalho and Ali Haddadji on the Subs Bench.
We seldom see Olga Svaikevic officiating our games; she is probably still puzzling over my sense of humour at the infamous visit to Worthing in 2022 where I tried to explain that in the absence of any Gees substitutes at all, we had 5 older gentlemen here happy to play the parts of numbers 12,14,15,16 and 17. She was a Referee’s Assistant for this game, cheers and smiles as she positioned herself on the line in front of the main stand. That wasn’t to last too long. A bright opening 5 minutes from the Gees, highlight of which was a Louis Lindsay free kick which seemed to elude everyone in the box and cannon away from the far post, saw the game stopped by an injury to the Linesman over on the benchside touchline. Olga was moved to take over on that side of the pitch; was the thinking perhaps that dealing with Jack Webb, Richard Keown, McAleese and Parrott might be preferable to the ramblings of the old reprobates on the other halfway line? She was replaced by Jack Owen, Dorking Academy’s Secretary, our thanks to him for stepping into the breach and all credit for a good performance with the flag.
Unfortunately, the stoppage seemed to affect the home side, who never seemed to get their Mojo back. Dorking won a brace of corners which were successfully dealt with, and Godalming were unable to capitalise on two free kicks awarded for fouls on Louis Lindsay and then Deji Alabi. The second of them saw a Will May header go over the bar. Sam Fernley was busy mopping up at the back and making a couple of his now familiar runs forward. Elliot saw yellow after stretching to rescue a wayward pass he’d received, and Louis won, and took, a free kick on the edge of the box which went some 3 or 4 yards over. The first declaration that this game ‘has 0-0 written all over it’ was heard around 25 minutes in and that is how it stayed at the half time whistle.
No changes for the commencement of the 2nd half and the first Dorking effort roared over the goal, last seen heading for the middle of the A3100. 52 minutes in saw Cam set up Will for an effort on goal which brought muted appeals for handball, not given. The Gees won their first corner of the half, Elliot got his head to it, but the Dorking keeper punched the ball clear. On to 64 minutes and Steve Douglas was judged to have caught the ball, grounded it and picked it up again. It’s all to do with keepers having ‘control’ of the ball apparently, this week’s homework is to look at the rules – Law 12.2 I think. There will be a test at the next home game. Anyway, a chaotic free kick a couple of yards out from the near post was awarded to Dorking along with a yellow card to Steve. The free kick was deflected behind for a corner which was then headed over the bar.
Mo made a triple substitution on 68 minutes and when the dust had settled Elroy, Louis and Deji Alabi had left the field to be replaced by Danilo Carvalho and Shiloh Ndiulor with Nana Afful, coming on at right back as Sam switched to the left. Another run by Sam resulted in a corner which again was cleared while at the other end Steve had to make a rapid readjustment to his position to deal with a wicked deflection on a cross from our right. Our remaining Deji was replaced by Ali Haddadji on 78 minutes. Nana and Jonny combined but the final ball found Shiloh offside. 82 minutes on the clock and Ali was brought down just over the halfway line, Elliot Creely had the ball in the net from Jonny’s free kick, but the offside flag was up.
For the first time in the contest Godalming were making some inroads into the opposition. With 3 minutes of normal time remaining Jonny swung over a ball from the left into a box that was full of bodies. A yellow shirt, the one belonging to Shiloh Ndiulor it transpired, poked the ball into the net. He led the team on a run to the left corner post in celebration while we all looked at the raised flag over on the right touchline. The referee ran towards Olga, had a word and signaled a goal. Deadlock broken, 1-0 to the Gees. There didn’t seem to be any complaint from Dorking about the decision. The game restarted and just into added time Sam Fernley was clattered on his way to a position on the edge of the box. Steve Snelling was on to fix him up but no doubt as a precaution James Mariner came on to replace Sam. As you do in these situations the free kick went straight to the corner flag to keep the seconds ticking away.
In the short time left a wild midfield Gees clearance headed for the wrong goal and gave Dorking a corner and up came the Dorking keeper. An opposition head was first to meet the ball coming over but a superb match saving clearance off the line by Cam kept the Gees’ goal intact. We broke up the park but were unable to benefit from the keeper’s absence. Seconds later the final whistle blew. Another 3 points in the bank and only 16 more ‘Win Ugly’ games to go.
Next up it’s down the road to Guildford City on Wednesday in the Southern Combination Cup, it’s scheduled for a 7.30 kick off but keep an eye on the weather. It’s probably a firm bet that the league game next Saturday will be on, bringing another visit to both Horsham FC’s 4G (3rd time this season) and to play Copthorne (5th time this season).
COYG’s