Slough Town 1-3 Chesham United

[Simon N]

Chesham:

1. Richard Hayward
2. John Kyriacou
3. Sam Ledger
4. Nick Leach
5. Danny Talbot (goal 7 mins (pen))
6. Mark Lambert
7. Dave Fotheringham
8. Steve Wales (goal 15 mins)
9. John Frendo (goal 45 mins)
10. Chris Bangura
11. Steve Obeng (booked 41 mins)

Subs:
12. Kevin Cotton (for Wales 87 mins; booked 88 mins)
14. Danny Gudgeon (for Frendo 77 mins)
15. Dom Marsala (for Obeng 82 mins)
16. Lewis Laws
17. Liam Farrell


Chesham put Saturday’s defeat behind them with their third win of the season over promotion rivals Slough. Chesham took control of the game from the start and were always in control after scoring twice in the opening quarter-hour. It may just be a clash of styles, but in all the three matches between these two sides Chesham have been the better side almost throughout.

Mark Lambert returned from suspension in place of Lewis Laws, and the only other change saw Dave Fotheringham come in for Dom Marsala on the left. Slough’s side included Simon Sweeney, Nathan Bowden-Haase and Steve Sinclair, and Garry Sippetts and Jamie Jackson were on the bench. Chesham took control of the game from the start and in the fourth minute John Kyriacou’s cross was chested down by Chris Bangura to Steve Wales who fired over. Three minutes later John Frendo controlled the ball just inside the area only to be sent sprawling by Nathan Bowden-Haase’s tackle. It was a clear penalty which Danny Talbot converted. Slough could still not get out of their own half, and in the fifteenth minute Dave Fotheringham pulled the ball back from the by-line on the left and it ran through to Steve Wales who fired in from eight yards. Still Chesham dominated but slowly Slough began to come back into the game. Slough have a long-throw expert in Yiadom Yeboah, and their main tactic seemed to be to send Bowden-Haase forward at every opportunity and lob the ball in his general direction. Shortly before the half-hour mark the tactic had some success when Dean Clark’s long free kick was headed goalwards by Yeboah and kicked away from close to the line, then Steve Sinclair’s ball back in caused another scramble before the ball was cleared. Another Clark free kick led to a bout of head tennis before Hayward was forced to make a smart save from Sean Sonner. Chesham had faded out of the game as an attacking force, but in the first minute of stoppage time made it 3-0. Dave Fotheringham’s ball into the area came to John Frendo who stabbed the ball goalwards, and it seemed a comfortable save for keeper Ricky Perks low to his right, but the ball went over his outstretched hands and bounced on into the net.

The early stages of the second half were fairly dull with Slough scarcely able to mount a worthwhile attack. In the ninth minute John Kyriacou cut in onto his left foot and hit a shot that took a deflection and hit the near post, then Frendo brought the ball down for Sam Ledger whose shot on the turn produced a good save from Perks. It wasn’t until seventeen minutes from the end that Slough threatened, when Elliott Buchanan broke clear but shot wide with only Hayward to beat. Four minutes later another scramble in the Chesham box ended with a hurried clearance and Sinclair crossed back in for Bowden-Haase to head home. In the next minute the referee decided to take centre stage when he awarded a penalty for the slightest of pushes by Nick Leach on Simon Martin as Hayward came out to take a cross. Technically it was a penalty although Chesham had a better shout three minutes earlier when Dave Fotheringham pushed the ball past Yeboah and made for the by-line only for Yeboah to block him off. However Martin took the penalty but his weak effort was well saved by Hayward to his left. That was Slough’s last real chance of getting back into the game, although in the last minute of normal time a low cross from Sinclair caused a scramble in the Chesham box which ended with John Kyriacou hooking the ball off the line.