Chesham United Football Club

Chesham:

 

1.    James Beasant

 

2.    Mark Lambert

      (goal 61 mins)

3.    Matt Skinner

 

4.    Michael Sharman

 

5.    Kieran Allen-Curry

 

6.    Danny Talbot

 

7.    Kevin Cotton

 

8.    Dave Fotheringham

      (booked 81 mins)

9.    Sammy Winston

 

10.    Eugene Ofori

        (goal 39 mins, booked 83 mins)

11.    Dom Marsala

 

Subs:

 

12.    John Lawford

        (for Marsala 89 mins)

14.    Phil Turner

 

15.    Bradley Holt

 

16.    Steve Cawley

 

17.    Ed Chemlal

 

 

This was a game that summed up the frustration of Chesham's season so far.  A depleted side contributed fully to a thrilling encounter against the league leaders, but missed a penalty, had a perfectly good goal disallowed and finished with nothing after conceding a late goal for the third time in four matches.

 

Chesham made four changes to the starting line-up - Danny Burnell joined Adam Parker and Sam Ledger on the suspended list, Richard Hayward and Andy Keepence were absent through illness, and Steve Cawley reverted to the bench after making his first start at Bedworth.  With Danny Brown still out of the country Kieran Allen-Curry and Matt Skinner came into the defence, James Beasant took over in goal and Eugene Ofori made his debut up front having signed from Braintree Town the previous evening.  Dave Fotheringham took over the captaincy and Ed Chemlal was on the bench after returning for Christmas from college in the USA.  Aylesbury began the game in confident mood after five wins on the trot, although Chesham had the first real chance when Eugene Ofori found some space on the left and attempted to chip keeper Tom Vincent but the ball ran harmlessly across goal.

 

Chesham looked to have weathered the early storm when some sloppy defending allowed Aylesbury to take the lead after 18 minutes.  A simple cross in from the left was not dealt with and Nick Leach stuck out a foot to jab the ball over the line from close range.  The visitors then dominated the game although a Chesham breakaway saw Danny Talbot find Eugene Ofori in space and his angled shot was well saved by Vincent.  After 37 minutes former Chesham junior Andy Shed missed a sitter when he side-footed wide from James Faulkner's cross, then Chesham broke away with Eugene Ofori crossing to Danny Talbot who pulled the ball back across goal and Sammy Winston's shot was deflected behind.  Dom Marsala's corner was cleared at the expense of another, then the next corner saw Vincent misjudge the flight of the ball allowing Ofori to head in.

 

The goal changed the course of the game as Aylesbury began to misplace their passes, although in stoppage time a shot from Sam Swonnell was kicked away by Michael Sharman.  In the second half Chesham began to take control and after 50 minutes Sammy Winston controlled a pass from Kevin Cotton on the right of the area only to have his ankles clipped by a challenge from Leach for a clear penalty.  In Burnell's absence Chesham did not have a designated penalty-taker, so Dom Marsala volunteered only for Vincent to dive to his right to save.  Five minutes later came the main talking point of the game, when Sammy Winston lost his marker to run onto Eugene Ofori's through ball, Vincent charged out from his goal and Winston lobbed the ball over him and into the net from 40 yards out.  However the linesman, who originally kept his flag down when Winston ran forward, waited until the ball was about to roll into the empty net before putting his flag up for offside.  Winston was so clearly onside when the ball was played that some people thought the flag may have been against somone else, but no other Chesham player was anywhere near the ball.  Later in the game the same linesman gave an equally poor offside decision against Winston, clearly not looking across the back line when the ball was played.

 

Shortly afterwards Shed blocked a clearance and ran through to slip the ball past the oncoming James Beasant but also past the post, but it was Chesham who were to take the lead on 61 minutes when Danny Talbot's free kick from wide on the right was headed into the net by Mark Lambert at the far post.  Aylesbury were clearly second best at this stage and promptly made a double substitution.  Initially this had little effect and Chesham could have stretched their lead when a long shot from Ofori was touched over by Vincent.  However Aylesbury began to come back into the game with Beasant forced to rush from his goal to save at the feet of Ross Taylor, then sub Nathan Graham had a header from Ben Stevens' cross kicked off the line by Lambert.  Eleven minutes from time Graham equalised with a looping header from a left-wing cross, whereupon Aylesbury took control of the game with Chesham unable to get out of their own half.  Shed won a loose ball and sent a shot flying across the face of the goal, but in stoppage time Aylesbury were awarded a free kick 25 yards out and former Chesham player Kevin Mealor curled the ball into the top corner of the net for the winner.