Chesham United 3-0 Stourport Swifts

[Simon N]

Chesham:

1. Richard Hayward
2. John Kyriacou
3. Sam Ledger
4. Nick Leach
5. Danny Talbot
6. Mark Lambert
7. Steve Obeng (booked 45 mins)
8. Steve Wales (booked 13 mins, goal 67 mins)
9. Chris Bangura (booked 49 mins)
10. Darrell Cox (booked 54 mins)
11. Dom Marsala (goal 50 mins)

Subs:
12. Adam Parker (for Cox 80 mins)
14. Kevin Cotton (for Marsala 75 mins, goal 79 mins)
15. Conner Baker
16. Lewis Laws
17. Liam Farrell (for Bangura 69 mins)


Chesham made it 13 points from their last five matches with this win over a Stourport side who had taken only four points from nine matches since the reverse fixture in November. In the five previous meetings between these two sides Chesham had only won once and had not kept a clean sheet, but Stourport never looked like scoring in this one so Chesham just needed to be patient. Once Dom Marsala broke the deadlock with a free kick in the 50th minute the result was never in doubt.

With Dave Fotheringham failing to recover from Saturday’s dead leg but John Kyriacou passing a late fitness test, there was only one team change with Dom Marsala starting. In the second minute Chesham were awarded a penalty when Chris Bangura seemed to be held down as a high ball came in. Danny Talbot struck the penalty firmly but keeper Paul Evans went the right way and tipped the ball away. The rest of the half saw Chesham on top but struggling to find a way through as Stourport sat back. In the thirteenth minute defender Adam Robinson was booked for shoving Steve Wales off the ball as he attempted to break clear – the two squared up to each other and Wales was booked although Robinson escaped further punishment – then Wales brought down a through ball and sent a left-foot shot wide from 25 yards. Chris Bangura then had a shot blocked, and a patient move down the right ended with Danny Talbot having a shot from just inside the area parried by Evans. As half-time approached Bangura played a one-two with Darrell Cox and shot left-footed but the ball just cleared the bar.

In the fourth minute of the second half Darrell Cox was brought down on the edge of the area by Mark Benbow, who squared up to Cox and the referee decided to book both players but showed the card to Bangura by mistake. However Dam Marsala spotted that the defensive wall had left a gap and shot low and hard into the corner of the net giving Evans no chance. Stourport attempted to come out of their shell but to little effect, managing only a couple of long shots one of which Richard Hayward watched go wide and one he saved comfortably. Midway through the half Steve Obeng sent Steve Wales away down the right, Wales’ shot was parried by Evans but the ball ran loose to Chris Bangura whose shot hit the post and rebounded back to Wales, who finally found the net despite a heroic effort by Evans to keep the ball out. That wrapped up the points but Chesham still went for more goals, and a neat run through the defence by sub Kevin Cotton ended with a low ball across goal that Darrell Cox put in at the far post but was adjudged offside. However 11 minutes from time Obeng again set up Cotton who this time found the net with a superb curling shot from 25 yards. Late in the game sub Adam Parker sent Wales away down the right to shoot across goal, then in stoppage time Liam Farrell’s ball forward gave Parker the chance to shoot but Evans made a fine save low to his right.