Soham Town Rangers 1-4 Chesham United

[Simon N]

Chesham:

1. Richard Hayward
2. John Kyriacou
3. Sam Ledger (goal 53 mins)
4. Nick Leach
5. Danny Talbot
6. Mark Lambert
7. Dave Fotheringham
8. Steve Wales (goals 51, 73 mins)
9. Chris Bangura (goal 27 mins; booked 78 mins)
10. Darrell Cox (sent off 37 mins)
11. Steve Obeng

Subs:

12. Dom Marsala (for Fotheringham 16 mins)
14. Adam Parker
15. Lewis Laws (for Kyriacou 66 mins)
16. Liam Farrell (for Bangura 82 mins)
17. Conner Baker


Three second half goals gave Chesham their first away win in the league since October. In a tempestuous encounter, Chesham took the lead against the run of play but were pegged back after the home team were awarded a highly dubious penalty. However the crucial incident in the game was a double sending-off on 37 minutes, which hit the home side more than Chesham.

There were two changes to the starting line-up, Chris Bangura and Darrell Cox returning in place of Adam Parker and Dom Marsala. Danny Gudgeon was missing with a calf strain, and Kevin Cotton was working in the morning so played for the reserves. Early in the game Steve Wales crossed from the right to Darrell Cox who could not direct his header on target, but Soham started brightly but without threatening. The game's first contentious moment came in the ninth minute, when Soham's Callum Reed was fortunate to escape with a yellow card for a horrible challenge which left the imprint of his studs on Dave Fotheringham's thigh. Fotheringham, making his 250th appearance for the club, tried to run off the injury after treatment but was forced to come off with a dead leg. Steve Obeng controlled the ball and it ran into the path of Steve Wales who was just off target with a snap shot, but Soham had most of the possession at this time but Chesham's defence was looking much more solid than in Tuesday's defeat by VT.

In the 27th minute Dom Marsala wriggled along the by-line before pulling the ball back to Danny Talbot whose first-time shot was well saved by home keeper Ian Pledger, but in the next minute Chesham took the lead. Wales again found Marsala on the left whose driven cross was stabbed into the net at the near post by Chris Bangura. However two minutes later Soham's Dubi Ogbonna attempted to cross from the home right and ball struck the elbow of Sam Ledger, who was about two yards away and was turning away from the ball. Somehow the linesman interpreted this as deliberate handball and Ogbonna tucked away the penalty. Pledger then turned away a shot by Chris Bangura, but the major talking point of the game came in the 37th minute. Pledger went to dive for a loose ball but Darrell Cox also went for the ball, as he was entitled to do, and caught Pledger with his follow-through. Pledger got up and lashed out at Cox, prompting a melee which ended with Pledger and Cox being sent off. With no substitute goalkeeper left-back Scott Johnson went in goal, and although he performed creditably the pattern of the game changed. Soham's left midfielder Josh Turner dropped back and they hardly ever threatened again, while Chesham's tactic of playing Bangura as a lone striker supported by Wales and Marsala, proved much more effective.

Early in the second half John Kyriacou tested Johnson with a chip from the edge of the area but the stand-in keeper stretched to palm the ball away, but six minutes into the half Wales controlled a low Kyriacou cross with his back to goal, turned and slotted the ball into the corner of the net to make it 2-1. Two minutes later Danny Talbot floated a free kick into the area and Sam Ledger scored with a header across the keeper into the corner of the net. Chesham were now in total control, with Soham's efforts at a comeback being foiled as Ogbonna was continually caught offside. In the 73rd minute Dom Marsala's diagonal ball gave Steve Wales the chance to run through and score with an angled shot that Johnson got a hand to but could not keep out. The game petered out with Chesham well in command, although Soham did have one last chance when Ogbonna fired powerfully but over the bar in stoppage time.