Chesham United FC

Chesham United Man of the Match: Jeanmal Prosper

A late goal from Bradley Clayton secured Chesham’s third consecutive win.  However this was a forgettable encounter, not helped by a Gosport team who clearly came for a point and who failed to muster a single effort on goal in the entire game. With Steve Brown ruled out by the injury sustained at Frome on Saturday, Lewis Rolfe came into the centre of defence and Adam Martin took over as captain.  Ronny Mfinda replaced Billy Adcock who had a slight injury so was not risked, while Bradley Clayton swapped places with Luke Heneghan.  New signing Will Wambeek made his debut as a late substitute after signing for the club in the morning.

Gosport made the early running but Chesham’s defence soon settled down after a couple of early alarms.  Chesham’s first serious attack came in the seventeenth minute, when Bradley Clayton pulled the ball back from the by-line and the ball was hurriedly cleared away from Eoin Casey at the expense of a corner.  Chesham began to take the upper hand but chances were few and far between.  Just after the hour mark Ronny Mfinda broke down the left and the ball was cleared as far as Luke Warner-Eley, whose long-range drive flew past the far post.  Mfinda then fired into the side netting from wide on the left following a quickly-taken free kick.  In stoppage time Luke Warner-Eley was held back on the edge of the area, and Dave Pearce took the resulting free kick which keeper Patrick O’Flaherty tipped over the bar.

The second half was little better than the first.  Just after the hour mark Dave Pearce’s free kick was headed goalwards by Lewis Rolfe, but O’Flaherty tipped the ball onto the bar from where it bounced down and was hacked away to safety.  The visitors had virtually disappeared as an attacking force and were content to waste time at every opportunity, but Chesham were struggling to break them down.  However nine minutes from the end Dave Pearce lifted another free kick into the visitors’ area, and the ball was cleared straight to Bradley Clayton whose first-time shot found the bottom corner of the net to the keeper’s right.  Gosport came to life but could only launch the ball hopefully forward, and the Chesham defence held out in relative comfort for a win that increases the gap above the relegation zone to six points.