Hartley Wintney vs Chessington & Hook

The Southern Combination Cup Match at Hartley Wintney, provided manager Glynn Stephens with an opportunity to pit his wits against his former side Ashford Town Middlesex if successful, so it was no surprise that he went with a strong side.

The game was played on an excellent surface albeit in driving rain throughout.

The home side started the better and Chessington appeared unable or unwilling to work as hard as there opponents, the result of which was early pressure that could have seen us go behind . Gradually and slow starts are happening far too often, the team started to play and John Quigley playing in an unaccustomed midfield position caught the eye with his tackling and passing.

On the half hour however, a speculative cross into the Chessington box was mishandled by Michael Sharpe on the difficult surface and the onrushing forward gleefully converted from two yards out. Just a minute later and with an unexplainable error on the part of the assistant referee, a clearly offside Hartley player was allowed to crash home to see us two down.

Whether the injustice or just greater desire, the side at last started to play and the growing pressure was finally rewarded with a John Quigley header from a Scott Todd Free kick.

On the stroke of half time a reckless challenge on Daryl Swaby saw us denied a clear penalty when the referee waved play on.

The second half was more purposeful and when on the hour we drew level with a Reece Jackson goal from a Shane Graham cross, it appeared as if we would go on to win. A series of chances came and went, most notably to Daryl Swaby who on another day could have gone home with at least two goals to his name. With just under twenty to play, comical defending and a series of errors saw us concede again and the Hartley side who were there for the taking, suddenly found fresh belief.

Although we attacked positively with Felipe Lima making his first senior appearance looking very composed, we created very little and when a long range effort with five to go eluded Michael Sharpe, our fourth cup defeat at the first hurdle was complete.