Leamington 2-0 Chesham United

Chesham lost more ground on the league leaders who maintained their 100% start to the season.  However this was a defeat that leaves a bitter taste as the outcome was affected by two crucial refereeing decisions, both of which were in favour of the home side and which defied rational explanation.

Unsurprisingly Chesham were unchanged from the win at Weston last week.  There was a strong wind blowing straight down the pitch and Leamington had it in their favour in the first half.  Early in the game James Husband pulled the ball back from the by-line to Mark Bellingham who fired over, but Chesham looked to be comfortable until Leamington opened the scoring on 13 minutes, Bellingham pulling the ball back from the by-line to the unmarked Luke Corbett who fired in from ten yards.  Chesham played some neat passing football but all around the half-way line and their only effort on the goal in the first half was a long shot from Dave Fotheringham that flew just over.  However Leamington made little use of the wind advantage and only threatened twice more, once when a cross from Husband hit the knee of Jamie Towers and flew over the bar, and once when a long clearance was nodded on and Towers blazed high and wide as the defence closed him down.

Early in the second half a cross-shot from Dom Marsala flew just wide, but the first controversial incident came afer 63 minutes, when Danny Talbot's corner was headed into the net by Darrell Cox at the far post.  However the referee disallowed the goal, saying afterwards that it was for 'a foul on the goalkeeper by the number 7' but Dave Fotheringham was nowhere near the keeper at the time.  Danny Burnell was closest but the keeper would never have got near the header anyway so the decision seemed extemely harsh.  Chesham continued to have the edge but their passing lacked the crispness of the first half as the feeling grew that it was not to be their day.  On 71 minutes home keeper Richard Morris took exception to a challenge by Darrell Cox on defender Martin Hier and grabbed hold of him, Cox reacted and jerked his head towards the keeper and was shown a straight red card even though he had already been booked. 

Cox can have no complaints about the decision but somehow Morris, who had provoked the whole incident, escaped with a yellow.  This was the cue for the notoriously over-officious, power-crazed Leamington stewards to throw their weight around among the Chesham fans - apparently they are there to prevent trouble but there wasn't any until they turned up.  In the first half one Chesham fan was told not to bang his hands on the back of the stand as 'it disturbs the neighbours' - since the nearest town is three miles away he must have been referring to a badger colony somewhere.  Shortly afterwards Danny Burnell was just over with a shot on the turn, but after Cox's dismissal Chesham never looked like getting back into the game.  For a while Leamington had hardly got out of their own half - overall the conditions did neither side any favours - but with six minutes to go Chesham were caught on the break and a long cross from Towers out on the right found Corbett who beat Bobby Smith with a first-time shot to seal the win.

Simon Newbury

1 User online