Chesham United | Hartley Wintney | |
Ben Goode | 1 | Luke Williams |
Jeanmal Prosper | 2 | Nathan Smart |
Kyle Watson | 3 | Tom Bird |
Adam Martin | 4 | Joe Gater |
Kieran Murphy | 5 | Matt Drage |
Steve Brown | 6 | Tyron Smith |
Dave Pearce | 7 | Aaron Kuhl |
Scott Shulton | 8 | Marley Ridge |
Eoin Casey | 9 | Mitchell Parker |
Karl Oliyide | 10 | Sam Argent |
Zak Joseph | 11 | Kingsley Eshun |
Dernell Wynter | 12 | Shane Hollamby |
Bradley Clayton | 14 | Tyron Newton |
Lewis Rolfe | 15 | Alex Albert |
Ronny Mfinda | 16 | Salhin Abubakar |
Mark Kirby | 17 | Steven Noakes |
SUBS | ||
Clayton for Pearce 70 | ||
Rolfe for Watson 81 | ||
Wynter for Joseph 81 | ||
GOALS | ||
Pearce pen 14 | Smith pen 10 | |
Argent 75 | ||
BOOKED | ||
Brown 36 | Smart 13 | |
Smith 62 | ||
Eshun 69 | ||
Bird 83 |
Chesham United Man of the Match: Eoin Casey
Not for the first time this season, Chesham stumbled when faced with the prospect of topping the league table. The visitors were the better side on the day but Chesham’s performance was way below par – in fact nobody afterwards could even recall them winning a corner in the entire game. There was only one change to the team, Dave Pearce returning in place of Bradley Clayton who was on the bench.
Hartley Wintney made the stronger start and Matt Drage’s looping header from a Tyron Smith free kick dropped just over the bar. Shortly afterwards Chesham’s defence failed to clear a corner and former Chesham defender Joe Gater’s shot hit Kyle Watson on the arm, and the referee gave a penalty although it was hard to see how the handball could have been intentional. Tyron Smith put the penalty away but the lead was to last only four minutes. Eoin Casey ran at the visitors’ defence and had his ankles clipped by Matt Drage just inside the penalty area. Casey rode the challenge and carried on but the referee, probably influenced by the earlier decision at the other end, gave Chesham a penalty which Dave Pearce tucked away. The rest of the first half was almost entirely forgettable. Late in the half Mitchell Parker’s low cross from the by-line on the visitors’ right eluded his team-mates, then two minutes later Nathan Smart’s cross-shot flew across the area and out for a goal kick.
Early in the second half Chesham began to come into the game more, but without their usual fluency. Just after the hour mark Kyle Watson broke away down the left and set up Karl Oliyide who curled a shot just over. Shortly afterwards Dave Pearce set up Oliyide for another shooting chance but his effort was straight at keeper Luke Williams. Just when it seemed that there was no hope of a goal at either end, the visitors scored the winner on 75 minutes. Tyron Smith’s long-range effort was tipped onto the post by Ben Goode, Nathan Smart collected the loose ball and crossed to the far post where Sam Argent slid in to score. Chesham pushed forward with greater urgency but created just one chance late on. On 89 minutes Eoin Casey found space on the right and squared to Karl Oliyide, and the ball came to Bradley Clayton who side-footed past Williams but just past the post from ten yards.