Aylesbury 4 Chesham United 3

[Simon N]

Chesham:

1. Richard Hayward
2. John Kyriacou (booked 43 mins)
3. Sam Ledger
4. Danny Gudgeon (booked 83 mins)
5. Danny Talbot
6. Mark Lambert (booked 14 mins)
7. Dave Fotheringham
8. Steve Wales (booked 20 mins)
9. Leon Archer (goal 90 mins)
10. Chris Bangura (goals 35, 49 mins)
11. Michael Bardle (booked 77 mins)

Subs:

12. Darrell Cox (for Fotheringham 56 mins; booked 69, 90 mins – sent off)
13. Michael Underwood
14. Danny Burnell (for Bangura 65 mins; booked 66 mins)
15. Dom Marsala (for Kyriacou 56 mins)
16. Lewis Laws
17. Kevin Cotton
18. Ollie Adedeji




Chesham went out of the FA Cup at the third qualifying round stage for the second year running. At half-time Chesham were 2-1 down having had more of the game, but immediately after the interval conceded two goals that effectively decided the outcome. At that stage the home team had only had five worthwhile attacks and scored from four of them.

There was only one team change, Leon Archer returning in place of Danny Burnell, while Darrell Cox was only on the bench having missed last week’s game and midweek training. The Aylesbury team was virtually the entire Aylesbury United side of a couple of years ago, including former Chesham players Mark Boyce, Dean Brennan and Stuart Maynard. Chesham took control of the game early on and in the third minute Danny Talbot’s corner found Sam Ledger at the far post whose header was cleared to Dave Fotheringham who blasted wide. Aylesbury keeper Steve Smith tipped over a drive from Steve Wales, then a slip by veteran defender Matt Hayward let in Leon Archer whose attempted chip was easily saved. However Aylesbury took the lead in the fifteenth minute when Maynard found space in the Chesham area, but Richard Hayward seemed poised to block when Maynard was floored by Mark Lambert’s tackle. Top scorer Craig Henney tucked away the resulting penalty.

Chesham were still in control of the game, and on the half-hour Sam Ledger’s header from a corner was cleared off the line, then the next corner was cleared as far as Danny Gudgeon whose shot beat Smith but ended up in the side netting. A rare Aylesbury raid saw Richard Hayward make a great save to keep out Henney’s glancing header, but Chesham eventually broke through on 35 minutes. A long clearance from Hayward was headed on by Steve Wales and Chris Bangura beat two defenders to shoot low into the corner of the net from just inside the area. Shortly afterwards a slip by Ben Stevens let in Archer who shot straight at Smith, but Aylesbury retook the lead in the 40th minute with a well-worked goal. Henney laid the ball off to Gareth Price, ran on to the return and side-footed the ball into the net.

As in the Bedfont Green game last week Chesham conceded in the 47th minute. A right-wing corner was taken short to Brennan who found Maynard in the area and the resulting cross was headed into the net by Henney to complete his hat-trick. Worse was to follow in the next minute when Gareth Price broke away down the right and Danny Gudgeon, in attempting to keep the ball away from the advancing Henney, turned Price’s low cross into his own net at the near post. In the next minute Chris Bangura reduced the arrears when he controlled a chip into the area and beat Smith from close range, but Chesham were forced to leave gaps at the back and Henney could have had a fourth goal but was denied by a fine save from Richard Hayward. Chesham went for broke bringing on Cox and Marsala for Kyriacou and Fotheringham, moving Mark Lambert into defence and pushing Michael Bardle forward. Shortly afterwards Leon Archer was floored by Stevens on the edge of the area having already been booked but the referee, who had already shown four yellow cards, let him off with a final warning. Chesham then missed a great chance when Leon Archer pulled the ball back from the by-line, Darrell Cox missed his kick and the ball ran through to Michael Bardle who blazed the ball over the bar. Chesham brought on Danny Burnell who was immediately clear on goal, and Stevens’ tackle appeared to connect with both man and ball but the referee gave nothing, Burnell picking up another yellow card for dissent. Richard Hayward made another smart save to deny Brennan as Chesham pushed forward to no avail while the referee, who had long since lost control of the game, tried to make up by dishing out yellow cards at random. Gareth Price broke clear but Hayward made another fine save, but Chesham’s frustrations showed and Darrell Cox could have been shown a second yellow card for a wild challenge, then Danny Gudgeon was booked after a flare-up with Aylesbury sub Nathan Graham. In stoppage time Cox committed another foul on Stevens and was shown a second yellow card, the eleventh of the game. However Chesham still poured forward and Dom Marsala had a shot tipped away by Smith, then Richard Hayward came forward for the resulting corner which was cleared, but the ball was pumped back in and Dom Marsala crossed for Leon Archer to score in the fifth minute of stoppage time. However there was no time for a final thrust and Hayward had to make another save late on to deny sub Kieron Schmidt.