Guildford Saints Blues 3 Grayshott 5

The Blues entertained league leaders Grayshott in appalling weather conditions at the Varsity on Sunday. In driving rain and gale force winds it was the Blues who took the game to their opponents and Ed should have scored early on when a great kick by Alex O got carried over the Grayshott defence by the wind. Unfortunately he took a touch too many and ran the ball into the 'keepers arms. Assisted by the wind the Blues totally dominated the early stages with chances falling for Dan, Scott, Mike P and Alex W but the away team goal led a charmed life until midway through the half a speculative effort from Alex W was fumbled by the 'keeper and the Blues took a deserved lead. Grayshott rallied a little but never looked like scoring until a harshly awarded free kick somehow found it's way passed Alex O for the equaliser.

In the second half and playing into the wind we came under far more pressure and Grayshott took full advantage using their pacy and skillful forward to excellent effect with long balls over the top of our defence. Two quick goals saw them take a 3-1 lead before Jack & Scott combined well to bring us back into the game with Craggie's first goal for two seasons. Minutes later we were level when the hard working Dan Price was rewarded for his efforts with a fine goal from distance that left the goalkeeper helpless. With over 25 minutes left Grayshott threw everything at us and, as we tired, gaps began to appear all over the field - particularly in our defence - and almost inevitably in the end one of Grayshott's many attacks led to their fourth and eventually their fifth goals.

Our overall team performance was good today in very trying conditions and against a good side but, as much as I have praised them in the past, I must say that our defending today was extremely disappointing. George unfortunately got injured quite early in the game and that very much effected his mobility and he was caught flat footed too often. Also, as good as he was two weeks ago, Marcus was poor today. Little or no attempt at tackling and very poor concentration often left us exposed to the pace of the opposition strikers. Jacob too was often caught wrong side of the ball and he also was guilty of poor concentration allowing our opponents plenty of time to control the ball during their attacks. Finally, Chris - as Derek & I regularly remind him - needs to improve on the strength of his challenges and tackling. Our opponents were not finding it difficult enough to get down our left flank and quite often were able to get telling balls into our area from there. All four players allowed the opposition too much time on the ball and because they were good players they were able to punish us. It may be a question of fitness, or alertness, but all four must improve on the speed and strength needed to close opponents down or, even better, win the ball before it reaches them! On the other hand our attack play was good today - the finishing could have been better and a big lead at half time wouldn't have been undeserved. The midfield were excellent with Tom & Dan, in particular, putting in excellent shifts. Despite my harsh words there were lots of good things on the pitch today and if we can stop conceding goals so easily there's still time to get something out of this season.

Man of the Match - Dan Price