St Albans City vs Chesham United

Recap

Chesham made history with their first-ever win in the National League.  Both teams came into this game with one point from three matches, but Chesham rarely looked like losing and won the game with a late burst of pressure. There were two changes to the starting eleven, with T’Sharne Gallimore and Ashley Lodge replacing Jack Connors and Ryan Upward who were on the bench.

The home side dominated the opening stages, but Chesham’s defence stood firm and Chesham had the first effort on goal in the thirteenth minute.   Home keeper Michael Johnson and David Longe-King got in each other’s way in an attempt to clear a long ball from Ben Goode, which let in Nathan Minhas but Joe Partington blocked for a corner.  Chesham took control of the game and Callum Adebiyi just missed with a header from an Alex Lafleur cross, but two minutes later Chesham opened the scoring.  Following a left-wing move Samson Esan crossed and Nathan Minhas netted with a downward header past Johnson’s left hand.  Chesham continued to push forward and Mitchell Weiss fired in a shot that beat Johnson but flew just past the post, then a Samson Esan through ball set up Nathan Minhas who fired past Johnson but just wide of the goal.  On the half-hour Weiss shot just over after a Nathan Minhas shot was blocked, but St Albans broke away and equalised two minutes later.  Following a left-wing move Ken Charles had a shot parried by Ben Goode and Shaun Jeffers fired in the loose ball.  Chesham came back with Mitchell Weiss setting up Nathan Minhas but Johnson came out of his goal to block.

Early in the second half Samson Esan seized on a loose ball and broke clear down the right, but sliced his shot wide with only the keeper to beat.  Most of the half was a stalemate with neither side looking likely to break through, but Chesham took control of the game in the final quarter.  Lewis Rolfe got to the by-line on the right but his cross-shot was parried by Johnson and hurriedly cleared.  Chesham continued to press and scored the winner on 82 minutes, when Callum Adebiyi headed down a free kick and Nathan Minhas turned and fired into the net.  Three minutes later Chesham came close to a third but Mitchell Weiss’s shot was just over.  The home side threw men forward late on but Chesham’s defence dealt with the threat and Ben Goode was rarely tested.