Chessington & Hook United 1 vs 2 Mole Valley SCR

Following two successive defeats the front two were changed to offer a little more than what was served up against Cove, with the 4 4 2 formation retained to keep some continuity from the previous Saturday.

In a high tempo opening both sides cancelled each other out with the defenders enjoying a better night than the any of the forwards on show.

Michael Sharpe was the first keeper called into action gathering cleanly a well-struck shot from the edge of the box following a quick break from the visitors. That apart the half drifted aimlessly with both sides offering little quality but perhaps should be complimented on the sheer work rate that they were putting in.

As the half time team talks were being finalised the first real opening arrived and should have resulted in Chessington & Hook taking the lead. A right wing cross somehow missed everyone and with Andrew Heath arriving in the six-yard box on cue it seemed as if the lead would be ours. His shot however rebounded off the post. To compound the misery from the resulting clearance a quick break saw our opponents reach our penalty box untroubled and with no pressure on the Mole Valley wide man he was able to curl a fine shot over the outstretched arms of Sharpe to give the visitors the lead.

This setback seemed to affect our belief as the second half got underway and when Puckett had to be replaced by Kentebe just five minutes after the restart we lost our shape and was punished again almost immediately.

A period of patient and well organised defence gave way to a lack of desire to stop Mole Valleys cross into the penalty area and confusion between Kentebe and Sharpe saw the forward head home unchallenged.

With the team in disarray we needed an immediate response and thankfully we got one. Matt Ellis’s free kick was headed on by Kentebe and Andrew Heath atoned for his earlier miss by bundling home from close in.

The goal sparked us into life and our attacks carried more purpose and on more than one occasion we looked likely to equalise.

As the game entered the final fifteen minutes Mole valley changed shape to hang on to what they had got and whilst we threw extra men forward in search of a goal our threat wasn’t as strong as we would have hoped for.

Another defeat and more will be expected of the players in the forthcoming fixtures I am sure.