John Walker's Match Report

Godmanchester Rovers 01-08-2023

Godmanchester Rovers 1 St Neots Town 3

St Neots maintained their solid start to the season with a confident performance at neighbours Godmanchester to top the league table after two games. Rovers had scored five in their first match at Oadby but there was little evidence of that in this encounter with the visitors’ goal never really threatened until late in the first half.

“Early days” said St Neots Town Manager, Cameron Mawer, with his immediate attention on the upcoming home FA Cup visit by Fakenham next weekend. The only team change with Nathan George still nursing his opening day injury, saw Tommy Reynolds included in the defence in an otherwise unchanged side.

After Harvey Williams had sent his second minute effort over the home crossbar the game settled into an early stalemate with both defences looking solid and confident. The home side had fractionally the better possession but made little use of it whilst St Neots were happy to probe patiently although they did feel they should have had a penalty after 28 minutes when strong appeals for a defensive handball were waved away.

The last 15 minutes of the first half saw some more positive play after St Neots had taken a 29th minute lead. The goal came after home defensive hesitancy as Lorell Smith stole the ball from a defender and crossed for James Hatch to head powerfully past home keeper Sam Clare. Godmanchester’s best first half effort came from Manny Gbejuade whose angled chip rebounded from the crossbar.