Chesham United FC

Chesham were forced to settle for a point on a day when most of their title rivals were out of action. It could have been worse as Chesham were a goal down at the interval despite dominating the opening half, but they fought back and took the lead only for the home side to launch a comeback of their own. Mark Kirby and Zak Joseph were both unavaliable, so Kieran Murphy and fit-again Karl Oliyide returned to the side. On a day when only two matches in the division went ahead, the teams served up an entertaining game with Harrow’s pitch standing up well to the terrible weather.

Chesham took control from the start and came close to scoring three times in the opening ten minutes.  Eoin Casey turned a low cross from Kyle Watson wide of the near post, Casey then had a shot which flew off keeper Luca Ashby-Hammond for a corner, and Dave Pearce’s kick eventually came to Bradley Clayton who shot just over.  Midway through the half Karl Oliyide mishit a shot well wide, then just after the half-hour Adam Martin pulled the ball back from the by-line but Dave Pearce could only stab the ball wide of the far post. Shortly afterwards Harrow threatened for the first time when Marc Charles-Smith pulled the ball back from the by-line, but Adam Martin and Ben Goode combined to clear.  However in the next minute the home team took a surprise lead when Brandan Matthew broke down the left, and the ball came off a defender to Michael Bryan who shot past Ben Goode into the roof of the net.  Chesham attempted to come back and in the last minute of the half Eoin Casey’s shot was tipped round the post by Ashby-Hammond.

Shortly after the restart Chesham equalised, when Bradley Clayton’s shot was blocked into the path of Dave Pearce who fired into the net.  The game was now more even, and at the other end Marc Charles-Smith had a free header from George Moore’s cross but headed well wide from a dangerous position.  Just before the hour mark Ben Goode blocked Brendan Matthew’s shot at the expense of a corner, but Chesham broke away and Bradley Clayton held off a defender to fire past the advancing keeper to give them the lead.  Chesham looked in control although conditions were deteriorating, but on 76 minutes Chesham’s defence failed to clear a free kick and Shaun Preddie shot low and hard into the corner of the net from just inside the penalty area.  After that there were no further chances at either end as both sides were forced to settle for a point apiece.