The first team travelled to Surrey County Intermediate Premier side, Hambledon FC on Saturday and despite my best efforts of getting lost on the way due to no signal for the sat nav I made good time to see the end of the warm ups as the coaching team assembled by Manager, Ian Matthews put the players through their paces.
The first two friendlies had seen The Railway men concede 8 times and only register 1 goal against a higher standard of opposition. Hambledon were going to provide a fine test of where the team stood against a side of the same level.
The kick off saw both sides make use of the lightly watered pitch with quick slick passing and end to end football but you could tell from the opening exchanges the game would be won by whoever could win the battle in the middle of the park.
The first big chance of the game came on the 10-minute mark, with the ball lost in midfield the Hambledon No.9 managed to find space in behind the defence. Stand-in keeper for the day Christian Williams was quick off his line to close the angle and stood up well to deny the forward, taking the ball from his feet and coolly passing the ball back out. Just 2 minutes later, the forward managed to get into space behind the Rudgwick defence. But yet again, Williams saved well low to his right to deny Hambledon the opener.
It took Rudgwick 15 minutes to register their first chance. Some nice interplay on the left wing between Greig, Sosna and Blick led to Rudgwick’s number 10 finding space on the edge of the 6 yard box near the goal line, his cut back to Greig was a little to high for the left winger to really control and his shot was closed down well by the Hambledon defence.
This chance lifted the Rudgwick heads as they really grew into the game. Beryk, Thomas & Sosna began to dominate the centre of the park to nullify any danger from the home side. However, the next keeper to be called into action was Rudgwick’s. After finding space down the right hand side, the Hambledon right winger sent a cross from deep, Williams couldn’t claim and was left in no-man’s land but the Hambledon front man yet again squandered a chance to put the hosts ahead.
With 10 minutes left on the clock of the first half, Rudgwick finally unlocked the Hambledon defence with some slick movement. With the attack starting down the left the ball was quickly shifted right as Edmonds found himself with space to run into. Some would argue he took a touch too many as he failed to really test the keeper with a shot straight at the Hambledon No.1.
With the referee about to blow his whistle for half time, the deadlock was broken. Again a cross from the right hand side was sent in but this time the Hambledon striker took his chance with a header glanced over Williams with the goal coming completely against the run of play the half time whistle went but Rudgwick were still filled with confidence from their first half performance.
The start of the second half saw Rudgwick’s persistence pay off. Greig found space on the left-hand side to provide a scintillating cross into the path of Blick. The keeper denied his first shot with a fine save; however the Rudgwick No.10 was quick to follow up and put things all square.
Just 2 minutes later, Rudgwick found themselves ahead. With a clearance not dealt with by the home side the ball went high into the damp air, with the goalkeeper jumping everyone thought there would only be one winner, however Blick managed to not only outjump him but also steer the ball home with his head!
The home side were shell shocked with the quickfire turnaround by the visitors as they began to pass the ball around comfortably. Even when Williams saw his pass out from the back quickly intercepted, he was able to recover well to make the save quick down to his right. Lockwood and second half substitute, Watt stood firm and confident in the heart of the defence.
With 20 minutes left on the clock, the Hambledon keeper made another huge error giving the ball straight to Blick however he recovered well to deny the Rudgwick front man his hat-trick. Blick was almost left to rue his miss in the next moments of the game. The Hambledon No.9 who had drifted out of the game in the second half found himself with the ball at his feet 15 yards out but as he struck the ball he was clipped from behind and the referee duly gave the penalty. It would be the Hambledon captain to step up to take, but he could not convert as he drove his penalty high into the wooded area behind the goal. A huge let off for Rudgwick!
The last 20 minutes understandably saw Hambledon really pile the pressure on but time and time again the midfield won their battles with the Rudgwick centre half pairing mopping up the rest.
In the end a well-earned victory for The Railwaymen as they kick started their pre-season campaign at the third attempt.

Man of the Match – Simon Lockwood

Next up, the First team travel to Jubilee Fields to take on Billingshurst FC on Tuesday 18th August, 7.30pm.

By Rob Chetty