Match Report by Jools Thomas

Ben Stevens returned to the centre of defence to partner Nathan Bowden Haase, Jeanmal Prosper joined the midfield and with Brian Haule unavailable, Kieron Schmidt, a member of the 2009 Spartan League title winning team, returned to make his 2nd debut for the club.

It was Schmidt who had the 1st chance of the game, with a long range effort on 8 minutes. Gareth Price had another effort a minute later but this time the visitor’s captain Tom Willment got in a vital block. Aston Goss had FC’s 3rd shot in as many minutes with a wicked bobbling shot which keeper Richard Ossai managed to gather.

Ben Stevens blocked a Halluna Mesembe shot on 18 minutes as the game continued in its entertaining vein. Daniel Bassett could have opened the scoring for Godalming five minutes later with a curling a shot through a packed defence which FC keeper James Weatherill did well to gather. A few moments later, Aylesbury’s James Dobson was unlucky as he saw his delicate chip tipped over the bar by Ossai. Yet another FC chance, this time a free kick from Gareth Price, went begging with no one able to connect properly.

As half time approached , a galloping Gareth Price was bundled over in the box with three Godalming defenders challenging the FC striker and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a spot kick. In the absence of Brian Haule, Ryan O’Toole was chosen to take the penalty and Brian would have been proud of his team mate’s finish as Ryan converted the spot kick making the keeper dive the wrong way.

Aylesbury doubled their lead on 53 minutes when good interplay between Kieron Schmidt and Aston Goss, allowed Goss a run on goal where he placed a subtle shot to the left of Ossai and into an empty net. Godalming had a half chance to grab a goal ten minutes later but Bassett’s low shot was collected down low by Weatherill. Team mate George Frith put in a decent cross on 70 minutes which Weatherill was forced to punch clear before Bassett had his side’s best chance of the half as his deft flick caused problems in the home defence but with Grant Fryer, Nathan Bowden Haase, James Dobson and Stevens on the top of their game, the FC goal remained undisturbed.

The final action of the game saw FC on the attack with the excellent James Dobson cracking in a strike from distance which just whistled past the post. Shortly afterwards, the referee brought the game to a close to bring a great degree of warmth to FC fans on what had been a bitterly cold afternoon.