Recap
Chesham were held to a draw in an entertaining encounter against mid-table Basingstoke. Against a side who had won their previous four games, Chesham took an early lead and dominated the first quarter. However Basingstoke fought back and ultimately deserved a draw although there was considerable doubt about the validity of their equalising goal. Callum Adebiyi was ruled out by the injury sustained in last week’s win over Totton, so Eoin Casey came into the centre of defence alongside Kieran Murphy who was making his 200th appearance for the club. The only other change saw Ricardo German recalled in place of James Harding.
Chesham took a seventh-minute lead following some neat play down the right between Jordan Edwards and Bradley Clayton, and the ball came to Alex Lafleur who cut in from the left and shot right-footed past keeper Simon Grant’s left hand. Chesham continued to push forward but without creating any further chances. Basingstoke gradually got a foothold in the match and had their first serious effort on goal on 28 minutes, when James Clark’s 30-yard free kick flew just wide. Towards half-time the home side began to stretch the Chesham defence and Billy Upton misdirected a header across goal from a long cross by Curtis Angell. However on 43 minutes Basingstoke again pushed forward, and the referee ignored what looked like a clear foul on Bradley Clayton just before Elliott Bolton fired past Zaki Oualah from just inside the area.
The opening minutes of the second half were rather scrappy, but on 54 minutes Basingstoke came close when Brad Wilson crossed and Liam Ferdinand’s header clipped the top of the bar. Chesham came back and Ryan Upward nodded on a Roddy Collins pass to Ricardo German who blazed the ball over the bar with only Grant to beat. The game became more open with Eoin Casey heading over from a Bradley Clayton corner, then Liam Ferdinand’s long-range shot was tipped round the post by Zaki Oualah. However as the game went on chances became rarer, although Chesham had a spell of pressure and Alex Lafleur shot into the side netting from just inside the area. Lafleur then crossed low from the left just ahead of Zak Joseph at the far post, but Basingstoke came back and in stoppage time a shot from sub Shamar Moore was deflected behind for a corner.