Chesham United Football Club

Chesham:

 

1.    Richard Hayward

 

2.    Mark Lambert

 

3.    Sam Ledger

 

4.    Jordan Bostock

 

5.    Andy Keepence

 

6.    Danny Talbot

      (goal 83 mins)

7.    Dave Fotheringham

 

8.    Adam Parker

 

9.    Sammy Winston

      (goal 11 mins)

10.    John Lawford

 

11.    Dom Marsala

 

Subs:

 

12.    Danny Burnell

        (for Lawford 68 mins, goal 77 mins)

14.    Michael Sharman

 

15.    Matt Skinner

 

16.    Kieran Allen-Curry

        (for Marsala 83 mins)

17.    Steve Cawley

        (for Lambert 74 mins)

 

 

Chesham continued their excellent away form with their seventh win in ten league games.  On a difficult surface Chesham never reached the heights of the previous win at Stourbridge, with a late burst of scoring meaning that the final scoreline made the game seem more exciting than it was.

 

Chesham made two changes from the Stourbridge game, with Mark Lambert returning on the right side of midfield and Dom Marsala returning to the left, and John Lawford starting up front with Danny Burnell on the bench after completing his suspension.  The weather in the west Midlands was much better than in Buckinghamshire with the afternoon dry apart from a couple of light showers, while the pitch was fairly dry but extremely uneven and not conducive to good football, which may explain why Willenhall played much worse than they did at the Meadow.  The first incident of note was Chesham's opening goal in the eleventh minute, when Richard Hayward's long kick was headed on by Adam Parker and Sammy Winston raced clear to chip the ball over the advancing keeper and into the net.

 

The remainder of the first half was fairly dull, with Willenhall restricted a succession of hopeful balls forward which were comfortably dealt with by the Chesham defence, while at the other end Chesham struggled to pass the ball on the difficult surface.  Midway through the half a cross from Sean Platt was headed over by Francino Francis, the former Watford striker making his debut for Willenhall, then a cross from the left by Craig Milligan was turned goalwards by Francis but Richard Hayward made a smart save.  Deep in stoppage time Sammy Winston headed powerfully but over the bar from Danny Talbot's corner.

 

Early in the second half Chesham were awarded a free kick which Danny Talbot curled wide of the near post, then another free kick from Talbot was set to curl into the net at the far post but home keeper Danny Woodhall was able to get back to palm it away.  On the hour Willenhall made a double substitution but the game continued to be a dour and uneventful encounter.  Fifteen minutes from time substitute Justin Nisbett used his pace to get to the by-line and pull the ball back to Mark Briggs who looked set to score but Richard Hayward made an excellent save.  However it was Chesham who were to score two minutes later, when a low cross from Dom Marsala caused a scramble in the home area in which Danny Burnell and fellow sub Steve Cawley were involved.  The ball bounced back and forth and Burnell was brought down but got up, worked some space and shot into the net at the near post.  The referee said later that he would have awarded a penalty if Burnell had not scored.

 

Four minutes later Willenhall pulled a goal back when another run and pull-back by Nisbett set up Craig Gregg, who had only been on the field for three minutes, to score from ten yards.  Chesham brought on Kieran Allen-Curry to mark Nisbett but as soon as he took the field Chesham wrapped the game up with a spectacular goal.  From fully 40 yards out Danny Talbot took a free-kick and surprised Woodhall by going for goal, the ball beating the home keeper and nestling in the top corner.  From then on both teams played out time, but Chesham came closer to adding to their total when Dave Fotheringham's cross was headed back across goal by Steve Cawley and Woodhall just got to the ball ahead of Sammy Winston.