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Combined Counties League - Premier Division Match

MATCH REPORT

This was one of the key games of the afternoon for the runners up spot in the Combined Counties League Premier Division with both sides looking to move up to second place. In drawing the contest, neither side managed the task and allowed another rival, Camberley Town, with the easier job of disposing strugglers Hartley Wintney to take the slight initiative. But with just five games remaining and only two points covering four clubs, the position is as open as ever.

Chertsey went into this game with a list of walking wounded, not helped by midfielder Mark Waters on suspension. Steve McNamara, Aaron McLeish, Stuart Bamford and Steve Gibson all had niggling injuries but lasted through the entire 90 minutes with only Gareth Graham, still not entirely match fit after a long lay off, being replaced late in the encounter by Darren Dobinson, another player forced to play with a muscle strain.
Despite being hampered in this way, Chertsey’s performance was still one of the better seen this term and it was only by the closest of margins that the full three points did not come their way. A chain of chances were created in the second half but clearances of the line and the woodwork came to Epsom’s rescue, as did an unfortunate own gaol, right against the run of play, at the other end of the park to even up the scores.

A scrappy and tetchy first half hardly raised any real prospect of an early goal. Visitors Epsom set up some probing balls towards the Chertsey goal at first but nothing of real danger was created and eventually a more balanced distribution of possession was achieved. Town took a while to string passes together with purpose but some good looking moves began to emerge and it was from one of these that first thoughts of a goal came.

It was just on the half hour when John Pomroy blasted the ball at the Epsom goal from inside the box but goalkeeper Paul Borg parried the ball away. Epsom had one big opportunity before the interval when a spinning ball got the better of the normally steady Stuart Bamford and fell into the path of Rob Burns. He piled in on the Chertsey goal but Michael Lidbury saved well, even if the shot might have been better launched.
Chertsey enjoyed much the better of second half and constantly took the game into Epsom & Ewell territory. A couple of corner kicks were won but came to nothing, however, a free kick on 54 minutes, sited near the left side corner flag, served a similar purpose. The ball was lofted and curled round to the far post by Graham and was met by Stuart Bamford to head home from just a few feet out.

The arrival of the goal was no surprise and another seemed destined to follow, especially after McLeish forced a finger tip save from Borg from a low drive. Sadly for Chertsey fans, the next goal came but at the other end of the park. A speculative punt up field almost caught out the home defence. Lidbury was forced out of his area to clear but the ball dropped to Burns who fired the ball back from distance towards the unguarded net.
Marcus Moody rushed back and miraculously somehow cleared the ball off the line for a corner kick. From that kick, the ball was planted in front of goal where, under severe pressure, the same defender was the last unfortunate player to touch the ball as it was knocked over the line within a clutch of defenders and attackers.
The 67th minute equaliser did not cause undue dismay and although it perked up Epsom & Ewell’s challenge for the first time since the interval, it also sparked Chertsey into regaining the lead and a number of openings were made, but none yielded the required goal. A Steve Gibson header that slid just wide off a corner kick was the first of these later attempts.

That was followed by McLeish firing over the bar from 20 yards after he had created space in cutting in from the right. Soon after, Moody saw his deflected header shoot narrowly over the bar. A Paul Brooker shot only found the side netting and Pomroy again forced a Borg save. A further McLeish effort connected with the Epsom cross bar from a header at distance, then another header, this time from Gavin Bamford was cleared off the line. That stop came from solid defending but the next clearance was effected only by good fortune when Gibson’s prod at goal at point blank range struck a defender standing behind his line when the Chertsey winner looked inevitable.

Lidbury also had to look lively as the game opened up more towards the final whistle with Epsom coming away with a salvaged point and Chertsey left with the feeling that they had dropped two.