Chesham United 2-2 Oxford City

[Simon N]

Chesham:

1. Richard Hayward
2. John Kyriacou
3. Sam Ledger
4. Lewis Laws
5. Danny Talbot
6. Mark Lambert
7. Dave Fotheringham
8. Steve Wales (goal 70 mins)
9. Leon Archer
10. Darrell Cox
11. Danny Burnell (goal 36 mins)

Subs:
12. Dom Marsala (for Burnell 85 mins)
14. Chris Bangura (for Cox 75 mins)
15. Jack Pattison
16. Danny Gudgeon (for Fotheringham 75 mins)
17. Kevin Cotton



Chesham gained a creditable draw against a strong Oxford City side who stretched their unbeaten run to 11 games in all competitions. After a disastrous first 15 minutes when the team could have been three goals down, Chesham fought back and looked the more likely to win the game late on.

There were three changes to the starting line-up, with Ollie Adedeji unavailable and Michael Bardle failing a late fitness test, so John Kyriacou started and Mark Lambert switched to the centre of defence with Darrell Cox returning in a three-man attack. Dave Fotheringham also started in place of Kevin Cotton, while newcomer Jack Pattison was an unused substitute. Oxford’s side included former Republic of Ireland international Dave Savage, plus four other players with extensive League experience including David Perpetuini who played once for Chesham three years ago. Chesham could have fallen behind in the opening minute when Danny Talbot gave the ball away on the edge of the area and Mark Bell’s shot beat Richard Hayward but hit the post. Two players with nearly 700 Football League appearances between them combined to fashion City’s opening goal on ten minutes, Savage sending Lee Steele clear to lob over Richard Hayward from the edge of the area.

In the fifteenth minute Richard Hayward came out to hack clear but Michael Alexis blocked and, with only Lewis Laws back on the goal-line, Alexis’ lob hit the top of the bar and bounced over. However in the next minute Chesham had their first worthwhile attack when Hayward’s long kick was flicked on by Darrell Cox to Leon Archer whose shot was parried by keeper Richard Knight, and Cox followed up but his effort was blocked. Chesham were starting to come back into the game and a good move involving Archer and Cox ended with Danny Burnell slicing a shot wide from just inside the area. In the 36th minute Leon Archer picked up the ball on the left touchline, set off for goal and fired in a shot that Knight parried and Danny Burnell equalised from close range. Chesham were now on top but did not come close again until the fourth minute of stoppage time, when Lewis Laws headed Danny Talbot’s free kick across goal to Darrell Cox whose bicycle kick was blocked at the expense of a corner.

Oxford were on top early in the second half but Chesham kept them well away from goal until the 61st minute, when Bell crossed from the right to Darren Pond who had a free header at the far post but headed straight at Hayward. Chesham broke away and Leon Archer’s lay-off found Darrell Cox who could not get any power into his shot but Knight was caught off balance and had to shovel the ball away. In the 70th minute Chesham took the lead for the first time when Archer crossed from the left, Cox’s far-post header hit the bar and bounced down and Steve Wales bundled the ball over the line. Shortly afterwards a fine run from Wales ended with a pass to Leon Archer who shot across the face of goal, but the lead was to last only six minutes. Chesham struggled to clear the ball and it ran to sub Liam Malone whose shot from the edge of the area was going wide, but Darren Pond was able to control and slot the ball into the net from close range. Shortly afterwards another scramble in the Chesham area ended with Bell blazing over from a good position, but Chesham came closer to scoring late on. Danny Talbot’s left-wing corner came to Sam Ledger at the far post whose header went across goal, Steve Wales’ solo run ended with a scuffed shot across goal, then in stoppage time sub Dom Marsala set up Mark Lambert who saw the chance for glory against his former club but shot over from just outside the area.