Sholing vs Chesham United

Recap

Chesham ground out a narrow but deserved win over mid-table Sholing.  The first half was a virtual non-event, but Chesham took control of the game after the interval and could have won by a bigger margin.  Chesham named the same 16 players as last week, but made two changes to the starting eleven with Lewis Rolfe and Ricardo German coming in and Roddy Collins and Ogo Obi on the bench.

The first half was scrappy with little flowing football.  Sholing’s Dan Mason was booked early on for an obvious dive when challenged by Zaki Oualah, Owen Roundell headed over from a Charlie Davis corner, then in stoppage time Dan Mason headed over from Jake Hesketh’s cross.  Chesham barely mustered an effort on goal, although on the half-hour Ricardo German was clean through but was wrongly flagged offside.

After the interval Chesham began to put some moves together, and Bradley Clayton had an early long shot that flew just over.  On 54 minutes Chesham scored the game’s only goal when a throw from Lewis Rolfe on the right was hurriedly cleared, Bradley Clayton’s shot beat keeper Ryan Gosney but came back off the post and Jordan Edwards netted from the rebound.  Just after the hour mark Bradley Clayton took a corner low into the area, and Lewis Rolfe shot first-time but his effort flew over.  With the defence looking comfortable against the division’s second-lowest scorers Chesham went after more goals.  On 76 minutes Ricardo German broke away down the left and shot but Gosney stretched to tip the ball over.  Four minutes after coming on as a sub, Ogo Obi hit a snap shot that beat Gosney all ends up but came back off the post.  Shortly afterwards Eoin Casey headed towards goal from a Clayton corner but Marv McLean hooked the ball off the line.  Clayton and Alex Lafleur then combined down the left, Lafleur pulled the ball back and Ogo Obi shot over with only Gosney to beat.  Late in the game Sholing had one chance to equalise but Byron Mason shot over when the ball dropped to him on the edge of the area.  However Chesham still finished the game on top, and deep into stoppage time Gosney denied Ogo Obi and Bradley Clayton in quick succession.