Having finished third bottom in 2009, Guildford City were looking to improve this season. Despite Kevin Rayner’s confidence about the side, we feared the worst after three league games in which we conceded seven and scored none.

A strong FA Cup run dominated the early season however. Having defeated St. Francis Rangers 4-1, Ryman League side Ramsgate visited the Spectrum in late August. Their fans were confident of a win, and were heard holding a sweepstake on how many goals they would win by. It wasn’t in the script for City to be leading 2-0 at half time! Anthony Bridgeman settled the match early in the second half with the goal of the season – a blistering drive from 25 yards out.

The Ramsgate fans turned on the Sweeney faithful, chanting, “you’ve only got three fans”. The retort quickly came back, “we’ve only got three goals.” Despite a late goal for the visitors, City held on to claim the upset of the round.

East Preston visited the Spectrum in September for next FA Cup match, the First Qualifying Round. City held a 4-1 lead with just twenty-five minutes left to play. But the Sussex League side came at us strongly, scoring twice more, and eventually finding their equalising goal in the 92nd minute. It was gutting, but not so much as the replay.

We made our way to the south coast the following Tuesday, but found ourselves a goal down at half time. Second half goals from Adesina and Banton-Brown put a lucrative trip to Dover in sight – but once again East Preston equalised in the final seconds of injury time. A goalless extra time period ensued, before City went out on penalties. This ensured a long and miserable journey home for all.

The hangover from that match continued into the next, where City bowed out of the FA Vase at home to Combined Counties Division One champions Mole Valley SCR.

The side weren’t really the same for a while, but managed a 5-3 win at Hanworth Villa in late September as Lance Banton-Brown scored a hat-trick.

October saw the start of a remarkable run. Our loss to Chessington & Hook United on the 3rd was our last home defeat in the league until the visit of Chertsey Town in March. Indeed, City lost just four times at home this season, and were the second best home team in the league – alongside big spending Chertsey..

Progressed continued in both the league and county cups, although with an alarming number of home games! City were drawn at home for eleven of the fourteen cup matches we played this season.

The third round of the league cup saw North Greenford United visit the Spectrum. Just eleven days previously the eventual champions had thrashed City 1-5. We feared the worst as the visitors put out a strong team. In the end, Guildford’s players rose to the occasion magnificently, turning the West London side over 5-0! Harrison Carnegie managed a hat-trick, while Jamie King scored for the third match in a row.

The win away at Banstead on the 5th of December saw City go on a nine match unbeaten run in the league, and hopes were raised of a top ten finish.

Numerous matches in December and January were postponed as a harsh winter set in. But Guildford City still managed to play Ryman Premier side Sutton United in the Surrey Senior Cup, losing 0-2.

Tommy Tydeman scored an exquisite volley in the home match against Camberley, but then found himself sent off five minutes later!

On the 6th of March, the club officially announced proposals for relocation to a site near the Slyfield Industrial Estate, as part of a regeneration programme in the area. Progress on this has continued slowly, but there has been no straight rejection as with previous plans. To celebrate the launch, City’s sponsor Copper Oak covered all the costs for the match with North Greenford United – allowing the club to offer free entry. We were rewarded with a season record crowd of 162 and an excellent 3-1 win over North Greenford United.

The following Tuesday saw City dumped out of the league cup at Horley Town at the quarter-final stage. The side were out of sorts in the first hour, and were already three goals down when Cory Knight scored. A missed penalty, and an appeal turned down for another, meant that Cooper’s scrambled last minute goal had no effect and City’s last chance for silverware was over.

As with the FA Cup match earlier in the season, the defeat seemed to hang over the side as we found ourselves 1-4 down after 45 minutes at Bedfont in the next game. A spirited comeback ensued, City pulling it back to 3-4, and then 4-5 through a Jamie King double and Danny Elgar. A missed chance to level the scores was the last serious attempt on goal and City left with nothing.

The run in saw City hit excellent form, despite a loss away at rivals Ash United. Redeeming themselves the following week with a victory in the return match, the players went on an impressive run of six wins, one draw and a single loss to the end of the season.

One of these was a 3-0 victory over league cup winners Cove, the first Combined Counties to be played on a Sunday. It attracted a triple figure crowd (that’s over 100, not three ‘figures’!) and was a strong win for Guildford City despite a slightly flattering scoreline.

Jamie Thoroughgood scored the 100th goal of the season in all competitions against Molesey in a hard fought 1-0 win. Strong defending, the mighty Sweeney and some horrific finishing on their part silenced the Molesey side.

Woking’s Kingfield stadium was used for City’s final match as the Spectrum was unavailable. The visitors were Badshot Lea, whose own ground problems had seen them rack up a backlog of fixtures and were clearly very tired. An excellent 3-0 win followed for Guildford City. Jamie King scoring early on in what would be his last match for the club before moving to Dubai. Jaydon Gibbs and Lance Banton-Brown sealed the victory in an excellent match, which came against 9 players after the visitors saw two men sent off.

This ultimately left Guildford City in seventh place in the league, an incredible improvement on the finish in 2009. The season had provided some brilliant moments in the league and cup – and there is strong optimism that the club can go on to even better things next year!

That just left one more game to play – the Guildford City supporters versus players match! The players team was clearly the better side (as you’d hope!) and took a 2-0 lead in the first ‘third’. A couple of switches for the middle ‘third’ saw City’s towering assistant manager Roly Martin take his place in goal for the players. Rob McCarry joined the supporters side, and inspired us to score twice. Unfortunately we conceded three more at the other end! In the final third, Kevin Rayner and Danny Elgar took pity on us. Thanks to some suspiciously lax defending, we found ourselves with 9-8 lead courtesy of five goals from super striker Chris Teasdale. We were all far too tired to track back in the last minute and the players scored a ‘dramatic’ last minute equaliser.

The match was decided on penalties. Kev Rayner stepped up first for the supporters team, and scored at the second attempt (it was ordered to be retaken by the referee, Tom Penson’s mum!). Captain Brian ‘Sidey’ Crane blasted his over the top, before Sam Thorley placed a neat shot into the bottom right. Matt ‘Bruce’ Brown and myself both scored, before Andy ‘George’ Harrison-King had his shot stopped by keeper Tom Penson. A hat-trick of misses from the players side against goalkeeper Danny Elgar meant Chris Lucas had the chance to win the game for the supporters. He duly did so, maintaining City’s excellent home form even further!

Matt Howell