Chertsey Town vs Chessington & Hook

Probably the best result of the year was achieved at Chertsey Town on Saturday, where a resilient performance with a changed side yet again we ran out deserved winners.

Without several key players victory was achieved through players being prepared to do a job for the team and the coaching staff delivering a formation that would provide the platform to win a key game.

Early on Lloyd Welsh deployed at left back was having problems handling Steve Goddard and it did appear that it was only a matter of time before we would concede.
A change from the side, swapping Welsh and West over gradually saw that threat diminish and a mention should go to Mark Daniels for an incredible double save during this spell which kept the scores level.

Midway through the half and with confidence growing in the side we started to create our own threat. Firstly Darren Smith was denied by the linesmans flag following good work from Swaby, then when the compliment was returned shortly after it seemed certain we would score only for Swaby’s shot to be miss hit allowing a relieved keeper to breathe again. Swaby’s run of involvement continued with two further spectacular efforts. His first chance was created by himself, when receiving the ball thirty yards out with his back to goal, he sped away from the two central defenders only to see his shot roll agonisingly wide. Just minutes later a rasping drive from the same player saw the home keeper at full stretch to palm away the effort for a corner.

The best period of the game for us needed a goal and it duly arrived on the stroke of half time when Martin Jacksons clever pass found Swaby who’s first time crossfield pass was slammed home by Darren Smith.

The expected second half onslaught arrived and resolute defending from Canning and Puckett in particular kept the threat at bay. In front of the back four the sheer industry of Cheadle White and Heath meant that Chertsey had to fight for every half chance and we weren’t without our own chances with Jackson Smith and Swaby responsible for maintaining a goal threat.

As the clock ticked down it was Chertsey who appeared the more anxious resorting time and again to pumping balls into the box all of which were dealt with quite comfortably. At the other end we thought we had settled our nerves when with about fifteen minutes to go, a well delivered free kick from Jackson was met by Puckett, whose header was converted by James White only for an offside decision to deny us a comfort zone. Again we created chances and in the last five minutes we thought again the second goal had arrived when a quick free kick from Jackson saw Smith run unchallenged into the box only to see his half hit shot comfortably saved.

The fact that the lead was so slender meant we had our own nervous moments but a flurry of late substitutions ran the clock down and even then one of the substitutes, Adam Sheffield, had a chance to seal the game but his long range effort towards an unguarded goal eluded the cross bar to add to the list of missed chances.

The whistle finally went and the three points gained keeps us in touch at the top.