Good Effort, Poor Result

Surrey-Guildford United put in a very solid week of training in preparation for playing Abbotsford who are one of the strongest in the league. Abbotsford was likely to be particularly cranky after suffering their first loss of the season the week previous.

SGU was very disciplined in the early going, sticking to the game plan and not allowing the Mariners to build up any kind of threatening attack. While United was under pressure, they remained very composed and were very hard-working in pressuring the ball and keeping Abbotsford away from the danger area. About the 25 minutes mark, Abbotsford struck on a corner kick where a Mariners player was left completely unmarked and had a tap in for the 1-0 lead. SGU remained tight defensively for the remainder of the half to keep the close scoreline.

In the second half, SGU opened quite well, again keeping the Mariners from building centrally. United who'd had no offence to speak of in the first half, kept up the trend in the second. Abbotsford were finally rewarded for their pressure beating SGU down the wing and the runs into the box were not tightly marked resulting in a relatively easy finish for the Mariners. The Surrey boys gave up four more in the half with all five goals being virtual carbon copies of each other; one tally resulting from an ensuing PK.

Despite the scoreline, United got solid goalkeeping from their call-up from Surrey United's silver team. Tactically, United didn't give up any scoring oppotunities, nor did they allow Abbotsford any kind build up, through the middle. Even in the loss, SGU had many solid performances and learned a great deal that will improve their game in future weeks.

Next week Surrey-Guildford will take on CMF Roma at home.