Chesham United FC

Chesham United Man of the Match: Dave Pearce

Chesham finally got back into action after 18 days but their run of draws extended to four.  Chesham had plenty of the ball, especially in the first half, but their main threat came from set pieces and they needed a couple of errors from the visitors’ defence to score their two goals. Dave Pearce replaced Ryan Blake after missing the midweek trip to Poole, while Jefferson Louis swapped places with Ronny Mfinda who dropped back to the bench.

Chesham controlled the early stages but mustered little of note until midway through the half, when Dave Pearce’s long-range free kick brought a fine flying save from visiting keeper Adam Desbois.  However Pearce’s corner was punched straight upwards by Desbois who then tried to fist the ball away but only succeeded in knocking it into his own net to give Chesham the lead.  The visitors had shown little in attack but on 35 minutes a snap shot from Mitchell Parker was fumbled into the net by Ben Goode for a surprise equaliser.  Towards half-time Chesham threatened for the first time when a long free kick from Ben Goode dropped to Jefferson Louis whose hurried shot flew over the bar, then Louis latched on to Adam Martin’s through ball but Desbois rushed from his goal to block the resulting shot.

Early in the second half Luke Warner-Eley broke forward, and the ball dropped to Jefferson Louis whose effort was well saved by Desbois.  However the young keeper was still having trouble dealing with crosses, and on 52 minutes Dave Pearce’s right-wing corner came to Steve Brown at the far post, and he volleyed the ball into the roof of the net from close range.  The game began to open up and Bradley Clayton got behind the defence on the right but his angled drive flew just past the far post.  At the other end Ben Goode had to dive to keep out a low drive from Salhin Abubakar, then Mitchell Parker’s shot on the turn flew just past the far post.  On 73 minutes Mitchell Parker missed a great chance to equalise when he shot wide with only Ben Goode to beat.  However two minutes later Parker’s lay-off set up Michael Campbell to fire home a second equaliser for the visitors.  Chesham looked the more likely to snatch a win late on, Steve Brown glancing a Dave Pearce header towards goal but Desbois again saved well.  Shortly afterwards another Pearce corner nearly went straight in but Desbois tipped the ball away.  In stoppage time Luke Heneghan’s shot was parried by the keeper, Ryan Blake collected and pulled the ball back to Billy Adcock who shot over from close range.  Deep into stoppage time the visitors forced a corner but Steve Duff could only head over the bar.