Guildford Saints 1 Ascot Utd 3

With our two centre backs already missing and the late withdrawal of Alex M due to injury we really did have to cobble together a defence on Sunday but Matt & Mike D stepped into the breach and performed very well against an organised and quick attacking opposition.

It was Saints that started brightly with Joe R, Julien, Tom & Jamie all playing their part in some sweeping attacks. Julien eventually found a way through the Ascot rearguard with a lovely looping shot to give us a 1-0 lead. We could have increased the lead but our finishing was not brilliant and as the half wore on Ascot started to see more possession and started to create chances of their own. Eventually they equalised when Matt stood off an attacking player a little to long and he was able to pass by him and strike a low shot into the corner of the net. We seemed to have weathered the storm after this but just on the stroke of half time a fantastic (if not speculative!) shot from an Ascot midfielder flew into the top corner of Josh's net giving the 'keeper no chance and the visitors a 2-1 half time lead.

In the second half we again took the game to Ascot, pulling them all over the park with some excellent running and passing, but despite this we failed to create many good chances and when we did the Ascot 'keeper made some excellent saves. Midway through the half Ascot struck with a third from a free kick that curled away from Josh and into the far corner and this goal effectively killed the match. Saints continued to try and create opportunities but quite often failed with either a poor final pass or some weak finishing and, to be fair, as we left some gaps Josh had to perform a couple of great stops to prevent Ascot adding to their lead. Eventually the game petered out to another disappointing defeat that realistically ends our hopes of a runners up spot in the Premier this season.

I thought the lads general play was OK to day. The effort was definitely there - in particular Ross, Mike D, Connor, Nathan and Tom R all worked their socks off - unfortunately the quality of our passing and finishing quite often let us down. However let's not forget that the eventual difference in the side was two "wonder" goals that we could do little about. A good effort from the lads today but a disappointing result.

Men of the Match - Mike Donne & Tom Richards