Sandhurst Town vs Chessington & Hook

We went into the game without influential defender Leon Canning but his replacement John Quigley was outstanding throughout and can count himself unlucky to be on the losing side.

In a game of few chances it always looked as if the first goal would prove to be important and so it was.

The first half was largely forgettable such was the way in which both sides cancelled each other out except for a moment of brilliance from Andy Weir whose speculative effort from 40 yards had the home keeper scrambling back to push the ball over for a corner. In fact the signs as half time approached were encouraging as we clearly were the better side for ten minutes and had come closest to scoring. However on the stroke of half time a free kick some thirty five yards out found an unmarked Sandhurst player who comfortably headed home from 6 yards.

The half time preparations and team talk no doubt affected by this.

If that was bad enough worse was to follow in the opening exchanges of the second half when Lloyd Welsh was shown a straight red after having been fouled himself. He can count himself a little unfortunate as both players had locked heads following the initial foul but hopefully it will be a lesson learned.

Manager Glynn Stephens chose to play with just three at the back in an attempt to take the game to Sandhurst and that proved to be a good move. The greater share of possession being enjoyed by Chessington despite being down to ten men , although too often with the final ball going astray chances were few and far between. Whilst remaining reasonably comfortable the need for a goal was occasionally leaving us open against the counter attack, and with just over twenty minutes to go Sandhurst scored again.

Although the pattern of the game remained much the same it was clear that there was no way back. A disappointing result against a team that went top as a result of their win.