Wednesday Nov 09 2005 00:00
Chesham United 0-2 Evesham United
There were four changes from the side that won at Cirencester, with Shaun Byrne and Simon Sweeney having left the club, Paul Aldridge injured and Andre Scarlett suspended, so in came new signings Nathan Stamp at right back, Olawale Ojelabi in the centre of defence and Barrie Matthews on the left, while Mitchel Woodward made his first start in midfield. The opening minutes were similar to the previous home game against Northwood, as the visitors took control from the off. After three minutes striker Richard Ball laid the ball off into the path of Matthew Lewis whose shot from the edge of the box produced a flying save from Darren Bonfield, then Chesham had a major let-off when Ball broke clear only to for the game to be stopped as the referee, who was atrocious throughout, gave Evesham a free kick. Ball went on to put the ball in the net although Bonfield had already heard the whistle. Chesham were also reprieved when Bonfield picked up what appeared to be a back-pass but nothing was given.
On the quarter of a hour Ball had a curling effort deflected over the bar, and it was no surprise when Evesham eventually broke through on 17 minutes, when a long cross from the right from Steve Duncan was headed in by the unmarked Ball at the far post. After this Chesham began to come to terms with the visitors attack, including veteran striker John Williams who was with Bath City last season. On the half-hour Chesham had their first noteworthy effort on goal when Steve Sinclair won the ball on the right and crossed to Barrie Matthews whose header was saved at full stretch by visiting keeper Dave Adey. Shortly afterwards Garry Sippetts beat the offside trap to run on to Mitchel Woodwards pass but miscontrolled and the chance was lost. The half ended with Evesham on the attack again, with Richard Robinsons pass finding Ball in the six-yard box but the striker failed to control the ball first-time and the defence was able to clear the danger. In the next minute Robert Taylors corner found its way through to Lewis whose shot from the edge of the area flew just wide.
In the early stages of the second half Ball worked some space on the edge of the area to fire in a shot that Bonfield saved low to his left, but the game again became a stalemate with Chesham unable to string any passes together. On 65 minutes a long free kick from Graham Hall found Nathan Bowden-Haases head at the far post but Adey stretched to palm the ball away. However four minutes later Cheshams task was made more difficult when Olawale Ojelabi, who had been booked early in the second half, was harshly shown a second yellow card for a foul on Lewis that hardly seemed malicious, although Lewis did require lengthy treatment. Chesham were forced to reshuffle with newcomer Michael Palmieri moving into the centre of defence.
Chesham were making little headway with 11 players and made virtually none at all with 10. For a while the game threatened to boil over with the referee failing to penalise a number of late challenges by both sides, but eventually some sort of order was restored. With a quarter of an hour to go youngster Jack Thompson became Cheshams fifth debutant of the day when he came on as a substitute.
With six minutes to go and Chesham pushing extra men forward, Evesham broke away and scored a second goal to clinch the win. Substitute Jamie Bailey ran onto a through ball on the left and crossed from the by-line to Richard Ball who tucked away his second of the game at the near post. Evesham could have had a third in stoppage time when Ball slipped the ball to the unmarked Bailey who shot wastefully over with only Bonfield to beat.
Although this performance was a major disappointment, the circumstances were hardly helpful. The newcomers had been signed at such short notice that they had not even had a training session with their new team-mates, so a lack of cohesion was understandable. The best way to look at this game is to write it off to experience as the new management team and players get used to their new surroundings.
Have your say on this article