Guildford City Tigers 1 Guildford Saints Blues 0

City won the Guildford derby thanks to a well taken goal midway through the second half in what was a very even match. Division Two new boys City  started on the back foot as the Blues attacked with pace and energy but missed the chance to go ahead when Chris blasted a penalty over the bar. Alex W and Tom O looked to spray passes around and Jack & Chris linked up well with them to give the team good width in the early stages. Jamie & James both caused problems for the City defence with their pace and it was pretty much one way traffic in the early stages. City, however, took advantage of the disruption caused by large scale Blues changes midway through the half and started to come into the game more forcing Joe and Luke, in particular, into some last gasp challenges and Nathan into a series of brave saves.

Nathan was called into even more action in the second half as big gaps between the Blues midfield and defence allowed City a series of good scoring opportunities. Eventually Nathan was beaten after a quick City break was superbly converted. Following this the Blues took the remainder of the game to their neighbours with Dan P especially impressing with his driving runs and excellent work rate. Ed had a great chance late in the game as he beat the defence but failed to pull the ball back to his onrushing team mates and shot wide of the goal.

One disappointing aspect of the game saw Alex O booked for dissent. As a referee myself I am determined that my players should play the game in the correct manner win, lose or draw - and be respectful to all officials and opposition at all times. As such Alex will miss the next match and any other players getting cautioned for dissent in the Blues this season will be taken off in that particular game and suspended for the next match as, hopefully, a deterrent.

The overall team performance was good. As with the match on Sunday the boys effort was good but again poor fitness showed particularly in the second half. The players need to take responsibility for this themselves and be working on their fitness in their own time. We need players that can last 80 minutes not 40 particularly if we are going to maintain a sustained challenge this season.

Man of the Match - Nathan Wells