This game saw the Gees introduce their new signings Joshua Pound, Lewis Lodge and Damien Smith in this Surrey Senior Cup clash against higher league opposition in Dorking Wanderers. Rumours were that the home side might rest some players, but that did not appear to be the case on the night. Lewis Puttenham amongst others in their squad.
Dimitri Kyriatkis in goal, Joshua Pound, Lewis Lodge, Damien Smith, Alex Rodrigues, Steve Betancourt, Scott Elgar, Tre Trowers, Hakim Griffiths, Kurt Greenway and Isy Nzello. On the bench Eugene Bongo, Estaban Salgado, Calum Roots, Tom Webb, Fernando Manuel- OLiviera.
The home team enjoyed the majority of the possession, in what was a bruising game played at high speed on a slippery pitch. The Gees seemed to be trying to pack the midfield and this was effective, up to a point, but left the players up front, Kurt Greenaway and Hakim Griffiths, isolated and without support so they struggled to keep possession.
Dorking were keen to use their wide players in attack to get around the visitor’s defence and showed some slick passing moves, but the new Gees defence was looking much more solid than recently and dealt with the pressure well, until a few minutes before half time. Not the best time to concede, but once again the Gees went behind just before the break. A frustrating feature of recent games. In view of recent results perhaps being only one goal down at half time was not too bad a result for the visitors. The new defenders were looking good.
Gees were without Piers Oldland, who was water boy for the night as a result of injury, Robert Webbe as a result of yellow cards and Rory Sellick as he is on dual registration with Dorking. Not sure about Ben Cotton.
So, at the start of the second half with Isy Nzello, having already made a couple of threatening looking runs when we were in possession, from his winger/wing back position, got on to the end of a high ball out of defence. The home team defender made a mess of it, failing to head clear. Isy took his chance with aplomb hitting a powerful shot at pace past the home keeper from just inside the box, while under pressure from defenders.
This, all of a sudden, seemed to give us just the slightest glimpse of a chance. Talk of the match going to a penalty shoot-out developed amongst the Gees supporters. This did not last for long. The impressive Dimitri in goal for the Gees had a shot straight at him that somehow squeezed under his body when he seemed to have it covered. The home side now 2-1 up.
The second half saw Joshua Pound replaced by Calum Roots. Kurt Greenway replaced by Eugene Bongo and Tre Trowers replaced by Fernando Manuel-Oliviera from the Gees youth team.
However, the referee chose to turn the game from a serious game to a bit of a farce. Giving some unbelievable decisions. Unfortunately, the majority went against the Gees. Throw- ins went blatantly to the wrong side, yellows to several Godalming players for daring to tackle opposition players, but absolutely nothing awarded when they were hacked down and left reeling on the ground, signalling he was playing an advantage when our player had been chopped down and the ball lost. Where is the advantage?
Players need some protection from the referee. This saw Hakim Griffiths hobble off the pitch after such an incident with 20 minutes or so to go. Having already deployed their subs the Gees had to play with only ten men. The answer must be that SSC is sponsored by Specsavers.
No doubt that in the second half the home side upped their game and showed their class and probably the Gees started to flag a bit. Bringing on a player with the class of Giuseppe Sole in the second half the home side added two more goals before the end. One hit from some way out into the far corner of the Gees goal and his second when he spotted Dimitri was a long way off his line and he lobbed the ball 30-40 yards into the open net.
This was however a much better defensive performance from the Gees. Probably the best under Gav and Jon. So good news on that front. Hope the improvement can be maintained for Saturdays game against Bedfont Sports at Wey Court.
This entry was posted in News on November 16, 2017 by admin.