Match Report
Match Report - 15 Aug 2009, St Francis Rangers FC 1st Team lost to Guildford City
A historic match for Rangers who were competing in the FA Cup for the first time. The start of the match was delayed for 10 minutes by referee Aiden Farrelly because the Rangers coach had been caught up in a traffic jam on the M25 thereby causing the team and supporter’s late arrival at the Spectrum stadium.
The pitch was bumpy and surrounded by an athletics track but the first 12 minutes were uneventful until Ranger’s Elliott Butler started a mazy run from the halfway line which concluded with a cross from the left that touched the home crossbar and dropped kindly for the Guildford defence who quickly cleared the danger. 3 minutes later, Butler and Russell Harris combined to set up a shot for Phil Gault which went just wide of the left hand post. Danny Burnett in the Guildford goal was lucky not to be penalized for handling outside the box on 20 minutes and Rangers appeared to be in control of the game, dominating possession, particularly Butler.
However on 25 minutes, Guildford no 11, Anthony Bridgeman wriggled free on the left and his excellent cross from the byeline allowed centre forward Gabriel Adesina to slot home at the far post and give the home side a surprise lead. Harris thought he had scored the equaliser 2 minutes later but his conversion of Chris Cook’s cross was deemed to be from an offside position. Ranger’s were still dominating the game and on 36 minutes, Chris Maynard dummied his marker on the half-way line and pushed forward before crossing from the left and Gault just failed to connect at the far post. It was more surprising on 42 minutes that Guildford extended their lead when a long, wind assisted punt upfield caused confusion in the Ranger’s defence and forced keeper Simon Lehkyj to leave his area and head the ball, and, although it fell kindly for Harrison Carnegie to score, the ball should have been cleared by Ranger’s defence.
At halftime, manager Roy Staughton decided to replace his two full backs with attackers, Paul Whetstone and Callum Cannon, and captain Chris Maynard reverting to defence to form three at the back with Ben Palmer and Matt Carruthers in a 3-4-3 system. Rangers pressed forward to reduce the deficit but got caught on the break on 52 minutes when Bridgeman broke free out of his own half and got clear to slip the ball under the advancing Lehkyj to make it 3-0. Rangers continued to press and Gault, Cannon and Whetstone all went close but on 75 minutes Guildford extended their lead with a shot from outside the box by sub.Tony Arnold which went just inside the left-hand post. After that Cannon hit a post and the ball rebounded to the keeper and on 89 minutes Gault scored a consolation goal after a mess up in the home defence. Roy Staughton thought that the reduced preparation time didn’t help the team to rise to the occasion and that the bumpy pitch didn’t assist playing good football but favoured Guildford’s long ball style which they played to good effect.
RANGERS: Simon Lehkyj, Russell Turpin, Mike Boutle, Elliott Butler, Ben Palmer, Matt Carruthers, Chris Cook, Phil Gault, Jamie Weston, Russell Harris, Chris Maynard, SUBS: Paul Whetstone (Turpin 46), Callum Cannon (Boutal 46), Geoff Pitcher (Cook 69),Martin Duke, Martin Gainey and James Baker (all unused).
Guildford City 4 - 1 St Francis Rangers FC 1st Team