Chessington & Hook vs Sandhurst Town

The top of the table clash on Saturday had been eagerly awaited, and this was intensified further with the news that Sandhurst had lost midweek. This presented us with an opportunity to significantly close the gap on them a gap created by their remarkable opening to the season.

Ultimately the game did not disappoint, although the usual nervy opening saw Sandhurst create the first chances during which, there was one notable save from Mark Daniels who did well to palm away a goalbound effort. The side lacked fluency going forward, and seemed unable to find the creative players in the side with any sort of regularity. With the forwards and wide players starved of the ball, it was again the resolute performances of the defenders and holding midfielders that caught the eye. Whilst the way we handled our opponents threats was a plus, our lack of attempts on goal was a worry.

With half time reached at stalemate and with very few chances at either end the second half was totally different.

Immediately from the kick off, Malik Buari carried the ball forward before finding Shane Graham who evaded two challenges before squaring the ball for Reece Jackson to tap home. Somehow he missed the target and a golden opportunity was missed. This one moment created a belief in the side and for twenty minutes the game was played almost totally around the Sandhusrt penalty area, with some stern defensive work denying goal bound efforts from Reece Jackson, Adam Cheadle and Scott Todd. The deadlock appeared to have been broken when under aerial threat from Malik Buari the visiting goalkeeper appeared to parry the ball into his own net. Confusion reigned as it initially appeared the referee had awarded the goal, only to dramatically announce that he had signalled for a free kick. Our inquisitive manager politely asked the assistant referee for his take on this and was clearly told that he had seen nothing wrong and had thought the goal was awarded.

This could so easily have been another one of those days, but with Chessington firmly in the driving seat they continued to press. With just over fifteen minutes to go Shane Graham’s wing play ended with a pinpoint cross for Malik Buari to head home from inside the penalty area to give us a deserved lead.

But for one notable scare when we lost concentration we saw through the final part of the game to earn a victory that confirmed us as joint second.