Goals: Ridout 27, 53, Scott 66, Cox 71

MATCH REPORT

Chertsey Town performances seem to be falling into two patterns with their matches this season. Either the side builds up an early lead then allows it to dissipate and struggle at the end, either with a narrow win or defeat, or they hit brick walls for long periods of a match but then score relatively late in going on the establish a comfortable win. Depressingly for Chertsey fans, the former happened in the Premier Division match on Tuesday, and defeat to visitors Cobham was even more acute for these opponents were lying at the bottom of the table without a win to their credit.

The early exchanges made it seem that there was a strong likelihood of an embarrassing score line about to be posted. There was, but no-one would have guessed a quarter of an hour into the game that the embarrassment was to be all Chertsey's. That is not to take anything away from the game Cobham side for they deserved all they got in eventually out fighting in the crucial second half after Town had failed to reap the opportunity for reward in the first.

It may be said that, in scoring three goals, the Chertsey forward line had done their job, but this was a team defeat with many elements contributing to their demise. A seemingly comfortable situation of a two goal second half lead was cut by one of those goal keeping errors that happens so rarely, but have been known to occur even at the highest international circles. A speculative 35 yard strike by Cobham's Shane Ridout on 53 minutes looked so easy to collect that Dan Smith in goal seemed to be caught in two, or even three, minds in how to deal with the effort. In doing so, the unfortunate keeper took his eye off the ball which then slipped through his knees and into the net. The effect was to galvanise Cobham.

The impression at that moment was that Chertsey was still in control and were far from shaken. However, with Cobham now stirred, the momentum of the game soon swung in their favour as they chased down everything while Town was still trying to play their way forward via the pretty route.

This led to lost possession in dangerous areas. What turned out to be the winning Cobham goal, on 71 minutes, came about directly from such a scenario, setting up Dai Cox, who connected well with the ball from 15 yards and found the back of Chertsey's net with aplomb. But the previous 66th minute equaliser was a different animal and was generated on the break, moments after Town might well have re-taken the lead, and perhaps with it break Cobham’s resolve. In one of a number of attacks, Lee O’Leary delivered a strong shot on target, but the ball was blocked by Peter Ruggles in the Cobham goal. The ball was sent down field where Elliot Scott found space to chip the ball over Smith, left in no-mans land.

John Pomroy twice came close to equalise late on, as did Luke Muldowney with a shot at distance but all efforts came from half chances for the Cobham defence we playing out of their skins and left virtually no gaps to exploit. Plenty of stoppage time extended the contest but still we could not break through. This was in contrast to the early part of the game when we took a substantial early lead with O’Leary stoking the ball home in the seventh minute from just inside the Cobham penalty area. This was followed up only six minutes later with more success.

A neat Darren Dobinson/Marcus Moody combination of passes along the left flank ripped open the defence for Pomroy to connect at close range and seeming build for a substantial victory. Even a reply from Cobham on 27 minutes felt no more than an irritant when Ridout slipped the ball past Smith with the defence caught out well up field.

This notion was underlined four minutes later when Paul Brooker fed Pomroy who returned the favour for Brooker to lob the ball over Ruggles for goal number three. What appeared to be a substantial victory on the way, despite squandered first half potential, fell away badly after the break and although Chertsey made an abortive late rally, the home side were worryingly short on effectiveness too many times at crucial moments to make the difference.