Guildford City U18 5
Hartley Wintney U18 0
Wed 9th November 2011, Southern Youth League West Division

We turned up to play Guildford at the Spectrum with a slightly depleted team, due mainly to college Open Evening taking place at Farnborough Sixth Form - I probably had as many players attend this as were available for the game (still... shows we are a brainy bunch).

In fact, the game was actually in doubt and ended up being a late kick-off after the pitch markings had not been done by Guildford Borough Council. The officials of Guildford worked tirelessly to mark the lines to the satisfaction of the officials to ensure the game went ahead.

However, the lads did us proud and despite going behind to a soft goal after 2 minutes we played manfully for the remainder of the half, played some excellent football and had some great chances to score. I know we are lacking confidence and need some luck in front of goal - something which seems to evade teams who are on a bad run.

We ended the half 3-0 down (conceding 2 goals in the final 5 minutes of the first half). However, a great team effort all round.

The second half was a similar story. We worked hard and played some good stuff initially, then we conceded a penalty - again one of those that although probably was a penalty, nobody would have argued if the referee hadn't given it, as the Guildford manager actually thought his player had dived.

The final score was Guildford 5 Hartley Wintney 0. I would say the scoreline didn't reflect the gulf between the two teams and I would like to credit Guildford for playing football in the right way, getting it down and passing (rather than just lumping it forward), and I have to say they are probably the best side we have played this season - making it an even better achievement for us.

Well done boys - continue with this progress and results will follow.

Squad - Dan Pearson, Jacob Wright, Ben Butler, Michael Floyd, Seb Huddy, Matt Partlow, Paris Hutt, Sam Meade, Gabriel Cockram, Billy McKay, Ross May
Subs: Ali Perry, James Vint, Austin Kelly.