Camberley Town 1 vs 1 Chessington & Hook United

Choosing to throw the customary caution to the wind, we took the game to our opponents with an attacking line up and were rewarded with not only a point but a fine performance that bodes well for the second half of this seasons campaign.

The game was quite open from the off, and both sides created promising openings early on, none of which were taken at either end.

For us we could consider ourselves unfortunate when the impressive Cole Bolt hit the bar with a cracking drive on twenty minutes, when Harry Smart was denied by a slightly disputable offside flag shortly after, and when Dan Coombes who was impeded in the box stumbled but maintained sufficient balance to get his shot away following a well delivered corner and flick on.

These moments all at the mid to latter stages of a half, in which had we converted from our opening two attacks inside the first five minutes following good work by Green, we could and maybe should have been in front by this stage in any case. Despite our attacking threat we were throughout the opening forty five minutes thankful on a number of occasions to Mark Daniels who was in fine form, and a new look defence including debutants Matt Chapman and Zach Powell which was well marshalled by skipper for the day Andrew Heath. They all performed admirably against a side that is always dangerous on their home pitch.

As we entered the final minute of the half and with the half time debrief prepared, we conceded a headed goal from a corner. This probably our only lapse of concentration in an encouraging forty five minutes.

The second half saw our hosts start brightly as they pushed for what would have been a decisive second goal, but as we weathered that initial storm thanks again to Daniels and the back line, we settled and began to take a grip on the game.

Dan Coombes and Aaron Cole-Bolt were winning possession back at will and their better use of the ball in the half increased our goal scoring opportunities.

Burns, Smart, and Green were all enjoying better service and closer to the Camberley goal and a series of near misses and well-earned set plays tested our host’s rearguard.

It did seem as if it was going to be one of those days where the performance would bring optimism, but where there would be no points reward. That changed on seventy-nine minutes when Cole-Bolts forward pass was helped on by Smart into the path of Robbie Burns who coolly slotted home with his left foot to bring us level. The goal was well deserved given our perseverance.

Rather than settle for the point the lift the goal had given us had clearly unsettled our opponents, and it was us who remained on the front foot. As we continued to push, we carved out another fine chance, when Smart cleverly fooled the last defender, and his early strike as the ball was dropping was blocked by the goalkeepers’ legs. From the rebound came another chance as the ball fell kindly to his strike partner Burns, who curled a fine shot that clipped the cross bar to deny us a last minute win.

As the game entered stoppage time and despondent possibly at our poor luck, we were called upon defensively as the referee waved away two penalty appeals and Oldershawe made a fine last ditch tackle to save a certain goal.

At the final whistle it was difficult to assess whether we had missed an opportunity to win or had gained a well-deserved point. To be fair it was probably a bit of both.