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Alton 3 - 2 Guildford City

21 Aug 2023

Match report by Dave Hawtin

Alton moved through to the next round of the league cup with their first competitive win of the new season against visitors Guildford.

The crowd were entertained with two great goals and two stunning point blank saves from the visiting keeper that kept the scoreline closer than it might have been on another day.

It was the visitors who took an early lead a cross-field ball from the left was allowed to bounce in the attackers favour and after Mees had blocked his initial shot the striker managed to poke home the rebound.

The lead was short lived as Alton took the initiative, Lumsden drove across the pitch and from 25 yards out unleashed a superb shot into the top right hand corner leaving the keeper motionless.

When Lumsden threaded Russell in on the right his shot was blocked by the keeper who then recovered to somehow get another block on Sandersons point blank shot.

Still they continued to threaten and took the lead when Bowerman wrong footed two defenders and the keeper from 12 yards and passed the ball into the net.

Any thoughts that the young visitors would roll over were quickly extinguished when they equalised when a clearance only made the edge of the box and the wide left attacker cooly curled into the far corner from 20 yards, another super finish.

Throughout the second half it was the home side who dominated territory and looked the most likely to secure the victory.

As it turned out the winner came just two minutes into the half. Bowerman restored Alton the lead with a close range header from a corner.

As the half went on Russell was a constant threat and when the home side introduced Regragui from the bench he also started to cause problems down the right, hitting the post with one effort and forcing the second outstanding save from the Guildford keeper who produced a strong hand to somehow push another goal bound close range shot away for a corner.

Mees in the home goal was never unduly threatened as the home defence dominated and helped see the game out without further incident.

Alton travel to Wessex League side Ringwood Town Tuesday night for the Hampshire Senior Cup, before returning home for a busy Bank Holiday weekend at The Exclusive Networks Stadium. FA Vase action on Saturday when Newport (IoW) are the visitors (3pm kick off), then on Bank Holiday Monday we'll welcome Farnham Town in the league (kick off 11:30am).

Match Highlights from Academy TV