Goals, with a side of goals…. Guildford City v Fleet Town

Hello!

Welcome back to this weeks groundhopping blog, and I can finally share some goals with you all!

This week it was my first re-tick of the season, as I was going to Oktoberfest in the evening, so I needed to find a game local to me, and obviously all of those have been ticked already…

I was considering both Bagshot and Bracknell, but neither would’ve given me enough time to get back, so it was to be Guildford City for the second time, I was hoping my hometown club would do better than the first time I saw them (they lost 1-0 last time I went).

My groundhopping mate for this week was my mum, it’s her birthday weekend, and surely there’s no better way to spend it than watching some Combined Counties Premier Division South action!

So we took a leisurely walk down the high street and then through Stoke Park, before we arrived just in time for kick off. I must say, I wish I could just walk to football games every week, much more pleasant than sitting in traffic.

Seconds after we had taken our seats (burger in hand), the first goal hit the back of the net after Nathaniel Mensah drove into the box and produced a cool finish into the far corner, finally I had seen City score a goal!

It was clear right from the first whistle that the Sweeney were on song, and they doubled their lead just before the half hour mark. This time it was the impressive Max Oldham who produced a fantastic run down the right wing, and then sent in a good low cross for Omar Folkes, who completed the move with a simple finish.

Oldham then got himself on the score sheet, after the first of many wonderful Guildford City counter attacks. They moved the ball so quickly and descended on the Fleet defence like the red arrows! Oldham finished cooly past the keeper to round off the move, and the game looked up for visitors three quarters of the way into the first half.

They managed to make it to half time without any further breaches in their defence, and i’m sure they were all relieved to hear the whistle blow for half time.

Fleet came out for the second half with a monumental task at hand, firstly they had to breach a City defence that had held strong throughout the first 45, while at the same time having to keep out the home sides’ impressive front four.

The pattern of the second half was clear as soon as it kicked off, Fleet were going to throw men forward and look to dominate from set pieces when they could, but Guildford City were happy to soak up pressure and then hit back on the counter.

The visitors made the first inroad in the second half, after a good move found Kofi Halliday, who produced a wonderful finish that looked as if it almost broke the net, the keeper had no chance!

This goal really seemed to give Fleet some confidence, they believed they could get back into it, and it showed.

This was until City began to show their utter brilliance on the counter, their lively front four seemed to be really enjoying the space afforded to them by the visitors. They scored three goals in ten minutes, all coming from scintillating counter attacks, it was like watching Liverpool under Klopp the year they won the Champions League!

The first was a pretty comical own goal, which was almost a back heel flick by the defender that hit the bar before bouncing over the line, would’ve been a fabulous finish if it was at the other end.

The next goal was a thing of beauty, a wonderful raking cross field pass from Ben Cotton perfectly found Max Oldham, who once again gave Fleets left back a torrid time before rifling a finish past the keeper. What. A. Goal.

The rout was complete with a relatively scrappy goal, but they all count! It was Nathaniel Mensah again, this time his initial effort ricocheted off the bar before falling back to him in the six yard box, and of course he finished from there.

Fleet managed to avoid further breaches in their defence, and the game was brought to an end, finishing 6-1 to City (in case you lost count!). This game did wonders for my goal average this season, although it would’ve gone up further if I had chosen Bagshot, as that finished 6-4!

But this was a really good game, as I mentioned City’s front four were particularly impressive, they interchanged nicely and all seemed on the same wavelength. Man for man they outplayed Fleet, and if they can continue to perform like that then they should be looking up the table this season!

Man of the match for me was surely Max Oldham, the winger was quick, strong and always seemed to make the right decision to shoot or pass, he was the stand out for me.

No Nandos after the game this week unfortunately, it was a liquid dinner instead….

That’s all for this week’s blog, I’ll be back Saturday!

• GROUND: Spectrum Football Ground
• GAME: Guildford City 6-1 Fleet Town
• COMPETITION: Combined Counties Premier Division South
• GROUND NUMBER: 91 (retick)
• WOULD I GO BACK: Clearly!
• TICKET PRICE: £5
• DAYS SINCE LAST 0-0: 960