On a very miserable Saturday we welcomed Chiddingfold who knocked us out of last seasons cup in extra time with the last kick of the game.
Cranleigh started very brightly and soon had the first chance with a great effort by Sullivan Howick .
A through by Chiddingfold looked to produce the winner but an amazing cover tackle by Charlie Obrien snuffed out the danger . Charlie hasn’t had the best of starts to this season but today produced his best game by far and showed how he can play.
The first half ended 0-0 with Cranleigh having the best of it. That a relief from previous games not to be 3-0 down or worse. Disaster struck 5 minutes into the second half with Chiddingfold scoring 1- 0 down.
Another fantastic cover tackle by Patrick Mare saved us from going 2-0 down.Patrick has now played 3 games since re signing for Cranleigh and has put in 3 consistently good displays .
Cranleigh heads didn’t drop and less than a minute later a great ball out left found Alastair Hill who from outside the area chipped the keeper for his first ever goal. The next chance fell to Chiddingfold with a rather hopeful shot spilled by our keeper and the ball falling at the feet of their striker by the back post.
Isaac Denton -Miller redeemed his mistake by scrambling across goal and turning the ball away for a corner . Our relief was short lived as a misunderstanding in our defence let in the Chiddingfold striker who calmly scored. Again Cranleigh heads could of dropped but we showed true spirit in dominating the last 15 minutes. Leo Lord who had worked tirelessly up front broke free only see his effort saved.
Jack Westerman was pushed up front in a search of the equaliser and it almost arrived as he sprinted clear and beat the keeper . As the ball agonisingly trickled towards the goal line The Chiddingfold defender cleared it as it was crossing the line. A great effort by Jack but credit also to the defender
Another chance soon fell to us with Toby Davis heading across the goal and scrapping the far post. The play was totally in the Chiddingfold half but unfortunately despite tremendous efforts time ran out .
So a 2-1 loss but a great performance and a massive improvement by the team.
Scorer
Alastair Hill -1
Man of the match
Sullivan Howick – Constant danger to the Chiddingfold defence
