HT 4-0

FT 5-0

Att - 55

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Combined Counties League - Premier Division Match

MATCH REPORT

Was it a case of Chertsey Town being fantastically well on their game or was Bedfont so woefully short? The answer probably lies between the two but with more emphasis on the positive from Town's point of view for they completely dominated the game from the first minute until the 89th when the beleaguered visitors set up their lone chance of scoring a goal.

That chance came from the penalty spot with the last kick of the game. Chertsey goalkeeper Michael Lidbury was fortunate not to get booked by the referee for spinning round Carlo Newton when he had broken through. Luke Craig stepped up for the kick but his effort summed up the Bedfont effort for the shot was just not good enough to beat Lidbury.

Lidbury was not the only fortunate goalkeeper for Bedfont's Tristan Thomas committed a really late and dangerous challenge on Paul Brooker who then took no further part in the game. An an offside whistle had blown but the referee had already taken his eye away from the action and missed the crude contact.

It was little wonder that Thomas had been less than calm, for his defence had given him a hard time in a contest that was effectively over by the time the third goal went in after just 19 minutes. Chertsey raced to a similar lead earlier in the season against the same opponents but were pegged back by conceding two goals during a rocky period before taking control again.

There was to be no such scares this time round as Chertsey pummelled their visitors into the ground. Faster on and off the ball, and more assured in possession, Chertsey were never in any danger of coming close to defeat on a crisp evening on a surprisingly stable but tacky pitch after another earlier bout of rain.

Spencer Day made one, forced, alteration to his side with Darren Dobinson starting in place of the suspended Mark Waters. Otherwise the line up was unaltered for three games; something virtually unheard of this season! Even the previous Saturday's setback at Banstead Athletic was seemingly tolerated in this sense and the reward for Spencer's patience was this subsequent assured performance and resounding win.

The writing was on the wall for Bedfont from the start and Thomas was forced into a full length save from a Gavin Bamford shot in the earliest stages, but he was unable to stop Town's first goal after seven minutes with Leon McLeish executing a dummy that created a great big gap through the middle that Paul Brooker exploited to fire home for his first goal of the evening.

The second came just five minutes later with the Bedfont defence caught flat again as McLeish himself ran through to plant the ball home in a one on one situation. Brooker found himself in a similar situation on 19 minutes and he too made no mistake with only Thomas to beat. The three goal margin was good value for the dominance Chertsey enjoyed with Bedfont well off the pace.

Chertsey's fourth arrived three minutes from the break with the ball being work in from the right flank, but this time with plenty of opposition defenders on station. The ball broke to Gavin Brooker 20 yards out and despite the congestion in front of goal, he cued the ball through a gap as if it was laser directed, for it to nestle in the corner of the net.

The threatened cricket score did not materialise after the interval despite more heavy duty attacking by Chertsey. A series of goal attempts might have been made good but all came to nothing. The most notable miss, perhaps of the season, came just after the hour when Brooker steered the ball into the Bedfont six yard box and somehow past Thomas. McLeish was in position but he incredibly side footed the ball wide.

The scoring was completed on 69 minutes with a deep left wing cross to just past the far post, but eight yards out, where the head of John Pomroy connected to record his usual goal, if scored for him, in unusual circumstances, a long distance header neatly directed past the ever despairing Thomas.

It should have been Bedfont that provided the full stop on the sentence imposed upon them throughout the ninety minutes but even this was turned, metaphorically, into a semi colon with Chertsey providing the last word in denying them even the most merger of consolations a token goal might have provided.