Knaphill played out a goalless draw away at local rivals Guildford City, with neither side able to break the deadlock in a physical and scrappy contest.

The visitors defended well throughout but lacked urgency in attack.

The game’s first central talking point arrived in the 20th minute when a Guildford free kick into the box caused chaos.

Knaphill failed to clear, and the ball fell to Jake Brown, who fired into the bottom left-hand corner. However, the assistant referee’s offside flag ruled the goal out, leading to strong protests from the home side.

Emmanuel Acheampong was the biggest attacking threat for Guildford, causing problems for Knaphill’s defence, while Ben Gambrah provided width on the left.

Despite some promising build-up play, Knaphill struggled to create clear-cut chances, with Guildford’s defence dealing well with crosses or forward passes.

Guildford had the best opportunity of the game in first-half stoppage time when a long ball over the top sent Acheampong through under pressure from Michak Stanic-Stewart and Jack Watts. He managed to get his shot away, but it rolled just wide of the left-hand post.

The second half continued in a similar vein to the first – scrappy, disjointed and lacking an attacking threat from either side.

In the 72nd minute Daryl Cooper-Smith came on for Yahaya Kamara, but his afternoon quickly turned.

In the 76th minute, following a late challenge from Jack Carrod, Guildford were awarded a free kick, and Carrod was booked for the tackle.

Cooper-Smith expressed his frustration at what he believed was a dive from the Guildford player, but the referee deemed it as protesting the decision and sin-binned him for dissent, leaving Knaphill down to ten men.

Despite Guildford’s numerical advantage in the closing stages they couldn’t break Knaphill’s defensive shape, and neither side created a clear-cut opportunity before the final whistle.

By James Carpenter