Chessy earn respectable draw away at Deal Town

Our second game in the FA Cup this season after our 1-0 win over Worthing United in the extra preliminary round two weeks ago. We were drawn away against Deal Town FC from Kent, Deal play in the Southern Counties East League and have currently lost 4 out of 4 this season in the league, but this isnt a true reflection on a very good attacking side.

We set off from Chalky Lane at 11am to allow us plently of time to get get there, with the mini bus restricted to 60 mph the journey ahead was 2 hours!! It seemed a little bit quiet on the way there, maybe a mixture of nerves and the feeling that we were travelling light. Christian Money was unavailable as he was at a wedding, Lewis Draper, Ahmed Hussain & Dan McLaughlin were still away on their boys hoilday, Sam Hewitt was still in America, skipper Lee Davison flew to Spain on Friday night, Ryan Hughes still missing with injury and James Duke didnt turn up for the meet with no txt or call. So when you look at it like that, we were going to our biggest game of the season so far missing 8 players that all could be in the starting 11.

We arrived at Deal Town's home ground The Charles Sports Ground just before 1:30pm which was perfect for all the lads. A nice old fashion ground with the bar/clubhouse very close to the pitch and the dugouts so the supporters felt as if they were ontop of you.

Ian Hewitt started in goal with a back four of J Flack, Jake Hill, Andy Heath (c) & Bas Morally in front of him. A midfield of Kevin Bourne, Matt Ellis, Jimmy Hearne, Craig Reading & Ade Oketoki with David Duodu-Amoah uptop for Chessy.

Deal Town set up with exactly the same formation as ourselves which was obvious to see after a couple of minutes of the game, both teams literally cancelled each other out.

A very even game in the opening exchanges with both back lines dealing with the others quick attacking play.

The Deal Town no.7, 9 & 10 were their most creative players and everything went through them, the striker no.9 was a quality player, his touch, turn, change of pace, control, composure and flair was up there with the best ive seen at this level. But Bas Morally and Andy Heath were doing well to keep him at bay in the early stages.

Chessy were getting a bit of joy with balls into the channels, Ade Oketoki, Craig Reading & David Duodu-Amoah always keen runners, after 10 minutes we were nearly rewarded with the persistance when Craig Reading latched onto a through ball, he out paced the Deal full back, cut back inside and fired his shot across goal only for the ball to come back out off the post!

We took the lead on 19 minutes when we won a corner from another pin point through ball from Jimmy Hearne found Ade Oketoki down the left, Ade beat the full back but a centre half covered to put the ball out of play. Jimmy Hearne's in-swinging corner was whipped in with pace and was flicked on at the front post by a Deal defender, the flick on went through everyone inside the box and into the net!

Deal Town 0-1 Chessy 19mins

Chessy started to dominate possession of the football and were comfortable playing the ball across the back four and into midfield, Kevin Bourne getting lost of time and space in the centre of the park to move the ball around nicely. But time after time the final ball into strikers feet was either poor or not sticking, the Deal centre backs where dealing well with the balls and reading our play.

The longer the half went on the more Deal got themselves back into the game, the Deal no.9 was holding the ball up well and bringing his team mates into play. It was his hold up play which brought the Deal no.7 into play on the edge of the box, he skipped past Jimmy Hearne with ease, then had time to set himself before smashing a shot towards the Chessy goal....Ian Hewitt done well to react with the stinging shot through a crowd of players but he could not hold it, the rebound fell straight to a Deal player inside the box who was in an offside position when the shot went in, the linesman didnt flag and he slotted into an empty net with Hewitt struggling to get to his feet.

Deal Town 1-1 Chessy 44mins

Half Time

The second half started as the first ended, with Deal on top, lost of possession in the Chessy final third, a number of corners but not really creating any clear cut goal scoring opportunities. Chessy had to dig in deep and ride out the storm, after 5-10 minutes we managed to get a foot on the ball and settle ourselves down again playing some nice football.

Jimmy Hearne and Matt Ellis getting on the ball alot more in the middle of the park, and the ball was sticking alot better up top. Ade Oketoki was always a handful for the Deal defence when he got on the ball.

J Flack and Jake Hill were finding themselves being a little bit more adventurous as the second half grew on, but they were always aware that they had to get back to defend as soon as possible! We were getting alot of joy again down the flanks, David Duodu-Amoah and Craig Reading again causing the Deal full backs problems.

The longer the half went on the more stretched the game got, end to end with either side being able to find that killer through ball or that magic touch to kill the game. Deal had two excellent chances to win it, first when their centre midfielder broke down our right side, J Flack struggling to get back after a forward run, The Deal player cut inside Andy Heath and tried to delicately chip the ball over Ian Hewitt into the far corner, to be fair it was a very good effort which didnt miss by much, just over.

Deal's second good chance to win the game came when they broke down our left side, David Duodu-Amoah failed to track his runner which left Jake Hill out numbered, a neat one, two and they were inside the Chessy penalty box, the striker neatly rounded Bas Morally but instead of shooting he decided to have another touch which allowed Ian Hewitt to get back across his goal, with Hewitt diving one way and Kevin Bourne sliding in the other direction they formed a solid wall on the goal line which the Deal player fired his shot straight into.

Chessy also had chances to win the game, the main one coming with only 5 minutes remaining, David Duodu-Amoah and Craig Reading had switched wings and Craig found himself in acres of space through on goal, he decided to try and place the ball into the far corner from just inside the Deal penalty area, he should of either took the ball closer or just put his foot through it!

A late penalty appeal for Chessy when a Jimmy Hearne corner caused confussion in the Deal box, David Duodu-Amoah nearly had his shirt taken off of his back by the Deal defender, clear to see from where we were standing, even several Deal supporters couldnt believe the ref or linesman didnt give it.

The ref decided that 7 minutes of injury time was enough and the final whistle was blown.

1-1 was a fair result on the day and both sets of managers agreed after the game that it could of gone either way.

Deal Town must now travel to Chessy for the replay on Tuesday night for a 7:45pm kick off (good luck with the traffic Deal) which means our Cup game away to Spelthorne Sports will now be rearranged.

MOM - J Flack