It was a grey morning on this Boxing Day match at The Bill Kyte Stadium in Surrey. High flying Wanderers were visitors to sixth placed Godalming in this SCFL Division One encounter.

An early kick off after a potential heavily indulged turkey bonanza on Christmas Day could have caused a lethargic performance by some, but fortunately this didn’t appear to be the case.

The lively Ollie Rawlins had a half chance from a long ball in the early moments of the match for Dorking. A short time later, Will May went close for the hosts, directing the ball towards the near post and his effort was just wide.

Godalming pushed forward again and former Westfield FC player, Oliver McAleese hooked an effort over the bar. The talented Mark Soares took a free kick from the right which was saved on the line by goalkeeper Sam Allison.

The home team had the energetic Edwin and Miller keeping the away team’s defence busy and the Dorking keeper Allison was up for the challenge. It wasn’t all Godalming though as the Wanderers also had their moments. Josh Hebert crossed from the byline which looked tricky but was caught at the near post before Ollie Rawlins had another effort inside the box which was closed down by the desperate Godalming defence.

On 50 minutes, Godalming went close from a free kick, and then took the lead as Cameron Edwin glanced a header into the far corner beyond Allison’s reach, 1-0. This was a fast paced end to end encounter and the crowd of 284 were getting their monies worth.

On 79 minutes, Dorking’s substitute Jacob Todman was pushed over inside the box and the referee awarded a penalty. The striker dusted himself down and scored from the spot into the bottom right corner, 1-1.

Godalming though were not accepting the draw and kept on pressuring Dorking. On 88 minutes when a draw was minutes away, Godalming had a free kick on the right. It was floated in and captain fantastic, James Mariner got to the ball first and headed it past the diving Allison, 2-1.

There wasn’t enough time for the Wanderers to get back into the match and they lost their first league game in seven. Godalming are now ten games unbeaten in the league and face AFC Uckfield Town on Saturday.

The GWS Man of the Match was James Mariner for his leadership, organisation and of course the winning goal.