Chessington & Hook vs Bookham

Bookham had arrived at the ground intent on being difficult to play against and with a game plan that we found difficult to deal with all night.

Very little football was played by either side early on and it quickly became a game where the side that was able to battle the best, would win. Although we are steadily improving in terms of being able to deal with this approach, it is not our game and so credit must be given for the way in which we finally went about our business.

The first half was generally forgettable for these reasons, although the half finished on a high note when the perseverance of Mailik Buari saw him score his third goal in four games to give us a slender lead.

The second half began with us intent on taking the game to our opponents and we were certainly playing with more confidence and had resorted to more of a passing game. It was better to watch and we at last looked likely to add to our lead.

Twenty minutes in and with no further goals to add we appeared content to sit back and to defend our slender lead. It was a decision that proved costly when fifteen minutes from time a hopeful ball into the box went un-challenged allowing a Bookham forward to toe poke home.

Immediately the tempo of our game increased as the players seemed to realise that we would miss the opportunity to close the gap at the top. Reece Jackson was withdrawn and replaced by new arrival Daryl Swaby whose first involvement was to result in a penalty award for a clumsy foul on him that the referee did well to spot. Scott Todd converted to restore our lead. We again set about defending our lead, but for the intervention of the linesmans flag in the last minute when he correctly flagged for offside we could have dropped vital home points.

As it was we didn’t and on a poor night of football we at least made second place in the league our own and closed the gap to one point behind the leaders with a game in hand.