Match Report: 1st leg: Rose Bruford 4-2 Guildhall King George’s Playing Fields, Sidcup Attendance: A bunch of rockets that turned up and gave abuse. A battling performance from Guildhall was not enough against an impressive Rose Bruford side in what was a fiercely competitive game. It was a game in which we were to sorely miss captain Dan Benn’s presence, which was apparent from the moment that his deputy displayed a complete lack of awareness regarding how to get to the venue. Bruford started the game brightly with Guildhall unable to get out of their own half, though a power of running and last-ditch challenges enabled the City of London team to break-up the Bruford attacks, with some timely interventions from centre-back pairing Ben Tarlton and ‘Chairman’ Gwilym Huws as well as a couple of outstanding saves from keeper George Watkins. Despite their early dominance Rose Bruford failed to take advantage of the chances they did create and Guildhall started to attain more of a foothold in the game thanks to some neat passing exchanges from Michael Leach and Matt Grenz (who ran around like a Trojan for the whole game), Leach started to form a good understanding with debutant Akito Goto, which bodes well for the future. In what was to be the first contentious flashpoint in the game, a free kick was awarded on the edge of the box for handball despite vociferous protests from the Guildhall players who maintained that left-back Henri Tschenz had not handled the ball. It was very harsh on Tschenz who had worked tirelessly to keep the opposition at bay and fought for every ball with admirable determination, the resultant set-piece was whipped in at pace and headed home for the game’s opener. Despite enjoying their best spell in the game thus far it went from bad to worse for Guildhall in less than auspicious circumstances once again. A rasping shot was fired from the edge of the box by the Rose Bruford captain, it was superbly saved by Watkins who could only look on in horror as the rebound was turned in from what appeared to be an offside position, the decision to allow the goal to stand was met with a response that contained elements of surprise and indignation amongst the Silk Street side as ‘benefit of doubt’ to the attacker normally does not stretch to four yards, although Rose Bruford were worthy of their lead on the balance of play at this point. Guildhall shuffled their line-up with Sheffielder George Webster moving into the lone striker’s role, he became a constant nuisance to the Bruford back four with his willingness to deny their back four time and space on the ball. Webster constantly stretched the game by staying on the shoulder of the last defender and was soon rewarded as an intelligent run into the inside-right channel saw him break clear of the defence, Bruford’s keeper ‘Frudd’ came out to narrow the space at the edge of the box but Webster calmly slotted beyond him and into the far corner to bring Guildhall back into the game. The second half was a tense and frantic affair as both sides sought to gain control of proceedings in a frantic midfield, with a couple of reckless challenges giving birth to a few on-pitch rivalries amongst the players. Guildhall seized the initiative early as Webster outmuscled the last Bruford defender, broke clear in the inside channel once again and slotted past a helpless substitute keeper. Parity restored, Guildhall in the ascendency and looking to build on their momentum, or so it seemed at least. Much to the consternation of the Guildhall players the goal was disallowed for offside, this was ever so slightly perplexing due to the fact that Webster both outmuscled and overtook the Bruford centre-back after the ball was played in behind. Guildhall subsequently lost concentration and almost immediately went behind after a superb move down Bruford’s left hand side culminated with a dangerous ball in being sumptuously finished of with a cute header at the near post. The Barbicanarians had Watkins to thank that they soon did not go further behind, a speculative effort took a wicked deflection off of Huws and spun towards the bottom corner, but the Oxford stopper readjusted his feet and produced a magnificent save to tip the ball past the post. It would have been easy to let their heads go down but great credit must go to the players who continued to fight their individual duels with vigour and desire, special praise should go to Alan Rowland for tirelessly filling in at four different positions during the game. Merlin Jones also helped to bring balance to the defence by slotting in at left-back and starting a number of fine passing moves by taking the time to pick the right options in possession, linking well with left wingers Emiko Edwards and Akito Goto. This indomitable spirit allowed Guildhall back into the game once more as a fine passage of play in the midfield saw the ball switched to Webster on the right hand side where he won a free-kick around 35 yards from goal. The delivery was flicked on by Webster and found captain for the day Crawford McInally, who controlled the ball with his chest and held of his marker before crashing a volley in at the near post. The game flowed from end to end but a lapse in concentration almost cost Guildhall dearly, a handball in the box from Tarlton led to the award of a penalty for Bruford, but yet again George Watkins dubbed ‘La Gran Muralla’ produced a stunning save to tip away the Bruford captain’s spot-kick. The final fifteen minutes raced by at a frantic pace and as a Guildhall attack broke down Bruford countered down the left hand side once again, the ball was thrown in and met with another fine header that left Watkins absolutely no chance. There were further glimpses of openings at both ends but defences held firm in the final ten minutes, the main talking point from this period being a rash studs-up challenge from a Bruford player that brought the game’s only booking. So a first leg loss, but Guildhall will take two away goals back to London for the return leg. There are plenty of positives to be taken from the game including some impressive debuts from Leander Kippenberg, Akito Goto and Carl Vallin who all put in tremendous shifts. George Webster and winger Alex Brain’s ability to get in behind defences will be a key ploy to be utilised by the team in games to come. Man of the Match: George Watkins. When a more successful team inevitably comes in for David De Gea, United manager Louis Van Gaal could do worse than to take a look at the boyhood Manchester United fan. Watkins Tschenz Huws Tarlton Vallin Rowland Jones McInally Leach Grenz Brain Kippenberg Goto Edwards Webster Goals: Webster, McInally.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:48:34 +0000
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