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Sunday 19 October 2003 Surrey U14 Cup
AFC Wimbledon
4
-
1
Guildford City U14
Match report
AFC WIMBLEDON U14 4 - GUILDFORD CITY 1
Dons took on an almost unknown quantity in Guildford City Boys on Sunday morning, with only their 13-0 win over Old Rutlishans in the previous round to go by. The Guildford team turned out to be small and skilful, pushing the unbeaten AFC boys long into the second half with their crisp passing and snappy tackling, whilst our boys struggled to cope with a string, swirling wind that demanded football on the floor, not the strongest part of our game.
AFC took the lead after 12 minutes, Josh Bartley doing his best Kevin Cooper impression to curl a low free kick from the edge of the area around the wall and into the bottom corner, but a defensive error six minutes later let in a Guildford forward who's smart half-volley from 15 yards found the corner of the net with Jamie Henley only able to watch it sail in. The impact of the wind meant that a large amount of the game was spent chasing the ball the other side of the touchline for a throw in!
More of the same until halfway through the second half, when Sam Manzambi came to life with two goals in as many minutes; the first with a wind-assisted curling shot from twenty five yards that deceived the keeper, after cutting in from the left and the second running onto a ball over the top and coolly sliding it past the oncoming keeper from the penalty spot. Guildford hit back and forced Henley into a great save six minutes later, and from the big goal kick James Bailey jinked his was through and set up Manzambi, but he could only smash the ball into the side netting. With time running out Guildford pushed forward, leaving AFC to counter attack - Bartley swung in a ball from the left that Bailey clipped just to close to the keeper, Ashley Thompson shot just over after a tricky solo run and, with three minutes left on the clock, Tom Savage finished Guildford off with another curling shot from twenty yards.
Next stop a second round home tie against Onslow on the 16th November.
