Chesham United FC

Chesham United Man of the Match: Mark Kirby

Chesham moved to within one point of the league leaders after this win.  Chesham looked comfortable at half-time after scoring twice and dominating the play, but eased off in the second half and finished hanging on grimly. There were four changes to the staring eleven – Steve Brown had been suffering from headaches following a clash of heads in Saturday’s game so was not risked, while Ronny Mfinda was only fit enough for the bench.  Mark Kirby and Adam Martin came in, and the other two changes saw Zak Joseph and Eoin Casey replace Dave Pearce and Romario Hart.

Chesham took the lead in the seventh minute, when Mark Kirby nodded on an Adam Martin long throw and Eoin Casey tapped in at the far post.  Casey just failed to connect with another half-chance soon afterwards as Chesham took control of the game.  Midway through the half a good run from Zak Joseph ended with a shot that flew high and wide.  Shortly afterwards a corner was cleared and played back in to Eoin Casey, who turned inside the home penalty area only to be brought down right in front of the referee.  Home keeper Luke Williams got a hand to Adam Martin’s penalty but could not keep the ball out.  As Chesham continued to press Casey again broke forward but shot wide of the near post as the goalkeeper came out.

Early in the second half a Zak Joseph free kick flew just over the bar, but the home team were starting to threaten for the first time.  A long cross from Steven Duff came to Salhin Abubakar at the far post, but he could only side-foot the ball across goal and the defence cleared.  Just after the hour mark the home side halved the deficit, when a Tyron Smith free kick was headed goalwards by Adam Cornell and the ball came back off the bar and in off Jonathan North although the goal was officially credited to Cornell.  In the next minute Abubakar squared to Mikel Platt who shot just over the bar from fifteen yards.  The home team won a free kick in a dangerous position but Smith’s effort was comfortably saved by Jonathan North.  Chesham had faded as an attacking force, apart from one free kick from Dernell Wynter that Williams saved comfortably. Late in the game Chesham were hanging on as the home team poured forward, but the final ball into the box lacked quality and Chesham’s defence dealt with everything that was thrown at them.