Chesham United FC

Chesham United Man of the Match: Ben Goode

Chesham got the new year off to a good start with their eighth win in the last nine league games. Chesham struggled at times but Dave Pearce’s opener put the team in control and once they had the lead they never looked like losing it. Sam Jenkins and Mark Kirby were both away, so Steve Brown returned in the centre of defence and Billy Adcock started in midfield with Jeanmal Prosper reverting to right back.

Hendon are battling at the foot of the table and made the stronger start, but Chesham were the first to threaten when Zak Joseph ran along he by-line and forced keeper Rihards Matervics to block at the expense of a corner. Three minutes later Karl Oliyide dispossessed Thomas Smith and would have been clean through on goal but the referee gave a foul. In the next minute Oliyide broke into the Hendon area and was harshly booked for diving when there did appear to be contact with a defender. Chesham occasionally put together some good moves, and from one of them Dave Pearce set up Bradley Clayton but Thomas Smith got in a block at the expense of a corner. Shortly afterwards Karl Oliyide pulled the ball back from the by-line, but Bradley Clayton missed the ball and Zak Joseph’s follow-up was deflected over the bar. Hendon had enjoyed plenty of possession but created little, and their best chance came when Kieran Murphy and Steve Brown left the ball to each other and Salomon Sambou ran clear but Ben Goode came out to block. Later in the half a neat ball from Shaun Lucien set up Sambou but Ben Goode again blocked and grabbed the loose ball.

Chesham began to look more fluent in the second half and broke the deadlock eight minutes in. Bradley Clayton cut in from the right and fired in a shot that Matervics parried, and Dave Pearce bundled the loose ball over the line. Chesham continued to have the upper hand and Zak Joseph had a shot which flashed across goal, then Joseph’s pull-back set up Dave Pearce but Matervics got down to save. Chesham brought on Eoin Casey and the move paid immediate dividends, when Bayley Brown seized on a loose pass inside the Hendon half and set up Casey who ran clear to side-foot past the advancing keeper. That goal sealed the game, although Chesham again came close when Steve Brown played the ball back into the area after a free kick and Dave Pearce’s shot was tipped round the post by Matervics. Chesham were denied a rare clean sheet deep into stoppage time, when Hendon were awarded a penalty following a foul on the edge of the area and Liam Brooks halved the deficit from the spot.