Goals:

MATCH REPORT

The last time Chertsey Town lost 5-0 was the previous February, and it was the same adversaries that inflicted the heavy defeat. That previous game was in the full glare of home support but at least on this occasion a midweek away fixture with Bedfont Green, played at Windsor & Eton's Stag Meadow ground, was tucked away out of the limelight. This was of little consolation, however, to those who made the short trip.

It was a paradox that Chertsey had the edge on possession and the edge on shots at goal, but sadly came up short with ideas on speed in attack and protecting their rear when marching up field. Time and again, Town approached the Bedfont Green penalty area in a deliberate and predictable manner and allowed the home side to file back in numbers leaving next to no space to exploit. In contrast, Green attacked with speed and direction and created the space to hit three goals in the first half and two in the second, all completed pretty much in the same style and at moments that looked rosy for Chertsey...

The writing was on the wall in the first ten minutes when the Chertsey crossbar was encountered with a header from Chris Henry. Hinga Amara also tried a header at goal a few minutes later but his effort went wide. Although Bedfont Green took good advantage of their opportunities, they did have some good fortune, or was it that they made their own luck?

It certainly seemed so with their opening goal on 18 minutes when, against the run of play, a sharp move that came in from the right looked to have been pressed too far to the left until Tom McCarthy executed an overhead kick at an angle that looped into the far side of the Chertsey net. The lead was extended eight minutes later when the Bedfont Green right back made a long raking run past three Chertsey shirts. He centred the ball for a shot that was blocked but rebounded for McCartney to notch his second goal with a low strike.

Lee Pearce in the home goal looked an unlikely participant but his ample frame was no hindrance and he stretched to the top corner of his goal when a Gareth Graham free kick almost reached its target. So the gap was almost narrowed on 40 minutes but was actually widened on 42 with a familiar looking breakaway that set up Gavin Hart to punish a scattered Chertsey defence that left goalkeeper Paul Smith totally naked.

Chertsey played the ball closer to the Bedfont Green goal after the interval and came close after just two minutes of play but again Pearce was equal to a firm 15 yard strike from Graham after a weak punch away off one of the many corners won. John Pomroy, with a glancing header three minutes later, was also well saved. Chertsey came close yet again within moments as Aaron McLeish slipped the ball to Pomroy but his shot rolled just a foot wide.

McLeish himself had a go as time started to run out but saw a creditable effort marginally fail to curl in enough to enter the net and frustratingly another close call was unrewarded. That frustration was compounded only two minutes later when a another break out in the 79th minutes resulted in a quick fire exchange of passes with the end product of the ball being fired in low across the goal face and in from the boot of Russell Minor.

Salt was rubbed into the wound in the dying minutes as a 25 yard free kick by Jon-Barrie Bates somehow dropped over all defences to almost plop into the corner of the Chertsey goal. That moral sapping blow helped to shake Chertsey's confidence further and ball control suffered. However, there was still time to make two more worthwhile attempts, one from Mark Waters that was fisted over by Pearce and another from Pomroy that flew straight at the well placed goalkeeper.

It seemed that Chertsey was never going to score whatever they did. Their play understandably struggled towards the end on a night that was destined to push hosts Bedfont Green to the top of the table.