Chesham United Football Club

	1	Andy Hall
	2	Andy Keepence
	3	Matt Skinner
	4	Sam Ledger (Booked 50 mins)
	5	Mark Lambert
	6	Danny Talbot
	7	Kevin Cotton
	8	Dave Fotheringham
	9	Danny Burnell (Booked 58 mins)
	10	Phil Turner
	11	Carl Bruce
	12	Michael Toner
	14	Dean Harding (for Cotton 77 mins)
	15	Richard Howard (for Skinner 67 mins)
	16	Dom Marsala (for Talbot 74 mins)
	17	Steve Cawley

Take away the opening minute and a half and this was a good footballing performance by Chesham against a team expected to be among the front runners in this division.  Unfortunately in those opening moments Chesham conceded the softest of goals and spent the whole of the rest of the game in a vain attempt to undo the damage.

Chesham made two changes to the starting line-up, Sam Ledger coming in for Michael Sharman in defence and Danny Talbot returning in place of Michael Toner.  Chesham got off to a disastrous start with a goal after 80 seconds.  Adam Knight took a long throw from the home right and the defence stood and watched as the ball bounced on the edge of the six-yard box and carried on towards the far post where Avun Jephcott had the easiest of tasks in nodding in.  The game then settled into a pattern with Chesham playing the neater football, while the home team tended to by-pass the midfield and rely on the pace of their forwards.  On the quarter-hour a long ball from Knight saw Ben Mackey race clear only to shoot well wide, but in the next minute Chesham replied with Dave Fotheringham finding Danny Burnell whose shot from the edge of the area beat home keeper Richard Morris but flew just past the far post.

Midway through the half Chesham had their two best efforts on goal, firstly when Danny Talbot's 30 yard free kick clipped the top of the bar with Morris beaten, then in the next minute a left-foot shot from Kevin Cotton produced a fine flying save from the home keeper.  Chesham were still shading possession but late in the half Leamington came closer to scoring on the break, firstly when a cross from Tom Bates bounced around in the area and a snap shot from Marcus Jackson was just over, then a missed tackle allowed Jephcott to run clear only to chip just wide.

The second half continued in much the same way as the first.  On the hour Chesham came close when Danny Talbot's free kick was not cleared by the home defence, Dave Fotheringham's shot was blocked and the ball rebounded to Carl Bruce whose effort was headed away from close to the line.  Midway through the half Chesham brought on an extra striker in Richard Howard, then added extra width in Dom Marsala and Dean Harding, but with the home team concentrating on defence and the occasional breakaway all Chesham's efforts came to nothing.  Leamington could have wrapped the game up ten minutes from time when Jephcott put a free header over the bar from Jackson's corner, but in the end Chesham were still throwing men forward and the home fans were grateful to hear the final whistle.

Simon Newbury