Oxford City 2-0 Chesham United

[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
9. Leon Archer (booked 35 mins)
10. Darrell Cox
11. Danny Burnell

Subs:
12. Dom Marsala (for Archer 73 mins)
14. Chris Bangura (for Cox 68 mins)
15. Jack Pattison
16. Danny Gudgeon
17. Kevin Cotton (for Kyriacou 84 mins)



Chesham went meekly out of the FA Trophy after their worst performance of the season so far. Chesham were unrecognisable from the team that stretched Oxford on Saturday, and the home team did not have to work hard for their win with both goals being the result of defensive errors.

Chesham’s starting line-up and bench were unchanged, while Oxford made three changes, including moving defender Jamie Clarke into attack in place of the experienced Lee Steele who was unwell. Some of my identification of the home players may be wrong as their shirt numbers are almost totally illegible under lights. There was a strong wind and drizzly rain as the game kicked off, and Chesham had the wind in their favour in the first half. Chesham started strongly and a long free kick from Danny Talbot was glanced just wide by Sam Ledger, and Danny Burnell fired in a cross from the left that was just ahead of Leon Archer. In the sixteenth minute an Oxford corner was not cleared and a shot on the turn by Andy Ballard was parried by Richard Hayward. After this the game became dull, with the conditions proving more hindrance than help to Chesham as the wind often carried the ball too long. Oxford’s best chance came in the 26th minute when Jamie Clarke’s pass sent Mark Janes clear but he blasted the ball over the bar as Hayward came out. That was the sum total of the action until the last minute of the half when Oxford took the lead. A shot from Janes carried little power but was heading for the bottom corner, and Richard Hayward could only knock the ball away to Jamie Brooks who tucked away the rebound.

Chesham came out strongly at the start of the second half with the wind against them, but the home side comfortably held out. Chesham were looking unusually vulnerable at corners, and ten minutes in a corner appeared to come off a Chesham head and was cleared off the line by John Kyriacou. The problem became obvious again in the 66th minute when Oxford scored their second, Steve Davis’s right-wing corner being headed in at the near post by the unmarked Andy Gunn. Chesham made a double substitution but the game was clearly beyond them, and the game degenerated into an untidy sequence of aimless punts forward by both sides. In the 83rd minute a long cross from Dom Marsala was headed goalwards by John Kyriacou but Richard Knight saved comfortably Chesham’s first on-target shot of the game.