Chesham United v Braintree Town (Emirates FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round Replay)

Recap

Chesham reached the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in seven years after a dramatic end to this replay. As the tie went into stoppage time three hours of football over the two games had produced just one flukey goal, but Kieran Murphy’s late equaliser changed the course of the tie and Chesham went on to snatch a famous win. Chesham made three changes from the original tie, with Avan Jones, Lesley Duru and Lucas Sinclair coming in and Connor Roberts, Jack Connors and Ricardo German on the bench. Braintree’s only change was at left back where Matt Carson replaced Toby Stevenson.

Both sides made a fast start with Harry Rush trying an early effort which was just high and wide. Chesham then lost Lewis Rolfe to injury to be replaced by Scott Shulton. At the other end a mishit cross from Aaron Blair was tipped away by Zaki Oualah, as the game settled in to the same pattern as on Saturday with plenty of movement but few chances. Braintree’s Aaron Blair shot just over after a Tom Blackwell corner came to him at the far post, then a neat Chesham move set up Harry Rush for a snap shot but keeper Vicente Reyes was able to save comfortably. Chesham were starting to find their rhythm, and Callum Adebiyi and Lucas Sinclair both came close before Eoin Casey’s shot was tipped over by Reyes. However Chesham were rocked when the visitors took the lead in the last minute of the half. Aaron Blair ran to the by-line and crossed, the ball took a huge deflection off the boot of Callum Adebiyi and dropped just under the bar and inside the far post with Zaki Oualah helpless.

Early in the second half Chesham brought on Ricardo German who had an immediate effect, pulling the ball back for Lesley Duru whose shot was blocked by one of a number of defenders on the line. Braintree came back and George Quantrell shot over from close range from a Tom Blackwell cross. Chesham had the better chances late on although Braintree still looked dangerous on the break. A left-foot drive from Bruno Andrade and a bicycle kick from Ricardo German were just off target, then a cross from Bruno Andrade came to Harry Rush whose shot was blocked for a corner. As Chesham upped the pace late on Avan Jones crossed, and a mishit clearance came to Ricardo German whose shot was deflected for another corner. The referee announced four minutes of stoppage time, due in no small part to some time-wasting by Reyes in the Braintree goal, and Chesham threw men forward and finally got their reward. A long ball into the visitors’ area was headed on by Callum Adebiyi and Kieran Murphy got on the end of it to beat Reyes with a close-range header.

In the first half of extra time Chesham went ahead for the first time in the tie, when Bruno Andrade crossed from the right and the ball ran loose for Lucas Sinclair to fire through a crowd of players into the net. However three minutes later Braintree had a chance to level when a misunderstanding in the Chesham defence led to Lucas Sinclair pulling down Matt Carson in the area. However Aaron Blair’s penalty was too close to Zaki Oualah who held his ground and saved comfortably. As Braintree pushed forward Chesham had chances, and Ricardo German and Bruno Andrade both forced saves from Reyes. Both sides brought on a fourth substitute in the second period of extra time, and Braintree looked dangerous but Chesham held on. In the final minute of stoppage time the visitors sent their goalkeeper forward, but Chesham cleared and Scott Shulton set up Zak Joseph to roll the ball into the unguarded net to seal the win.