We were without Nick ‘Tricky’ Wilson, so Carl Obiltey took his place up front. It was good to see ex-Epsom player Daryl Cooper-Smith in the opposition line up.

As predicted, it was a nervy start for both teams with no real clear-cut chances. Much of the play was in the middle of the park with limited attacking threat from both sides. Then, approximately 10 minutes before half-time, we took the lead through our in-form marksman, Will Kendall. He latched onto a fortuitous deflection from an Abbey Rangers defender to beat the goalkeeper inside his left post. Nothing more was expected by Will, as soon as he saw sight of the goal! The half ended 1-0.

The crowd knew they were in for a tense second half with both teams needing a result. In the 61st minute, we extended our lead with a superb goal by our leading goalscorer, Luke Miller. He received the ball on the edge of the box, cut inside his man, and rifled a left-footed shot into the roof of the net, leaving the Abbey goalkeeper no chance. Would this be enough with 30 minutes to play? Of course not, as Abbey pulled a goal back after another piece of defensive frailty by Epsom around 7 minutes later. We were left with over 20 minutes to defend our lead, and apart from Abbey hitting the bar, we were able to see the game out for a vital victory. We could have extended our lead with a couple of close chances from Jaevon Dyer and Luke Miller.

This victory doesn’t mathematically secure our safety due to other results on the day, but we have a great chance to secure safety either through matches being played this week or in our final game away at Guildford City next Saturday. Regardless, it has been a great few weeks for our team, and we look forward to our final game of the season.