Martini’s men showed no mercy as they ruthlessly annihilated despairing Crowborough with four out of their eight goals coming from Glen Stanley at a sunny Wey Court. The visitors, rock bottom of the Ryman South, had two men sent off and also conceded two penalties which Stanley converted.
Paka scores |
Godalming’s Phil Williams missed a good chance before the goal-fest started; forcing a good save out of Robert Gordon after Scott Whibley had carelessly gifted the ball to him.
On 13 minutes though, that good chance was forgotten when Andy Ottley’s throw was flicked on by Graeme Purdy to Glen Stanley who bundled the ball home. The early lead was vital to Godalming and they created further chances with Wayne Clark heading Chris Wales’ header off the goal line and Glen Stanley chipping the goalkeeper and the crossbar after slicing the Crowborough defence open. With half time approaching Godalming doubled their lead when a fantastic cross from Andy Ottley found Graeme Purdy and his shot was well saved by Gordon, the rebound falling to Benson Paka who fired into the bottom corner for his first goal for the club. Moments later another majestic ball from Andy Ottley found the head of Damian Matthews who headed powerfully into the roof of the net to send Godalming 3-0 up at the break.
Many teams would have settled for 3-0 and would sat back after the break, but with a triple substitution at half time, Godalming started the second half as determined as they had started the first and on 57 minutes they were awarded a penalty after Scott Whibley used his arm to prevent Stanley’s shot entering the goal. Whibley was dismissed by the referee and Stanley stepped up to whack the spot kick into left hand side. A minute after Crowborough had restarted the game it was 5-0 when Glen Stanley unlocked the feeble door of Crowborough’s defence to square the ball unselfishly to Phil Williams who gleefully side footed into the net.
Godalming were cruising at this point and they exhibited some superb football, dominating the game with Crowborough struggling to test Garry Aulsberry. Matters were made worse for the visitors with twenty minutes to go when substitute Jon Trotter was shown a straight red card for a terrible tackle on Adam Haddad. Trotter challenged two footed, studs showing on Haddad and left the field without complaint when the referee issued the red card. Crowborough’s heads were obviously very low at this point but to their credit they managed to keep themselves together and Gordon made a stupendous save from Haddad, athletically tipping over the tricky forward’s goal bound shot. However the scoring continued and Godalming won their second penalty of the game when Drew Crush accidentally kicked the heel of Haddad instead of the ball inside the penalty box and Stanley duly stepped up and powered home his hat trick and Crowborough’s 100th goal conceded this season.
Even the Godalming defenders were joining in the fun with Shaun Elliott firing just wide of Gordon’s goal before an outstanding solo goal from Victor Kiri made it 7-0. Kiri broke free and sprinted half the pitch with the ball before coolly slotting the ball past Gordon for his first goal for the club. It was the best goal of the lot, but Benson Paka tried to surpass it with a run from the half way line into the penalty box. However he unselfishly passed the ball across to Stanley who tapped in his fourth goal of the game and his 17th of the season.
The final score meant that history had repeated it self as it is almost a year to the day when Godalming thrashed Newport IOW 8-1. However Godalming managed to keep the clean sheet this time and the eight goals will go a long way to boosting the goal difference. The Gees were clinical and confident, proving that on their day they can play some breathtaking football even when missing their captain and one of their main goal threats, Kenny Ojukwu.
Godalming: Aulsberry, Wales, Elliott, Mariner (Reeks), Matthews, Paka, Ottley (Haddad), Kiri, Purdy (Akhazzan), Stanley, Williams
Greg Lewry
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