Chesham-Home

A dry, sandy pitch made the ball tricky to control at times this afternoon on a warm Easter Saturday as Chesham came to Court Place Farm for the first time for a few years.
Matt Skinner put in Enoch Boateng early on for the visitors but he shot wide and almost immediately Mark Jones delivered an excellent cross from the City right that was scrambled clear. Wilkins had to be quick off his line to deny James Gray, and Skinner had a headed chance at the far post for Chesham before City had the best chance of the early exchanges. A swinging free-kick from Steve Davis was met by the head of Mark Avery and his firm goalbound header was just parried by Matt Niedzwiecki, but neither Chakaodza nor Stewart could get near enough to capitalise on the chance. Five minutes later a fine ball from Mark Jones between two defenders found Stewart in space in the angle of the penalty area and his rising shot was tipped just over by Niedzwiecki at full stretch. From the resulting corner the ball was lofted back in from the left by Jim Griffin and the Chesham keeper again had to alert to push the ball out from under the bar.
Half way through the period Steve Davis was stretchered off with a bad leg injury and Takriti replaced him and this seemed to cause City to lose a bit of rhythm and allow the visitors more of the game. Giambrone put Gray clear but his shot lacked power and Rice put in a good cross that Avery did well to head behind for a corner. Boateng put in a heavy challenge on Jones and from the free-kick Chakaodza put in a good shot on the turn but it was cleanly held by the keeper.
Chesham had a clear-cut chance right at the end of the half when Marcus Gross found space in the area but his shot was deflected just wide by a last-ditch block from a City defender.

HALF-TIME City 0-0 Chesham

Mark Bell replaced the injured Mark Jones at half-time and Lee Rendell produced a good shot early on that went just beyond the far post, but Chesham steadily came back into the game and looked the more likely to score. The ball rattled the City bar after a Maynard corner was only partly cleared; Dan Burnell, through on goal, was denied by a timely tackle by Takriti and another good corner by Maynard was headed just over by Gross. Just as the Chesham pressure looked as though it might give them the lead, a soft foul on Chakaodza wide on the City right gave Lee Rendell a chance to deliver a measured free-kick into the box and Gavin Lane was on hand to head firmly past Niedzwiecki to give City the lead in the 74th minute.
Five minutes later Anthony Alleyne broke strongly into the penalty area but Mr Lymer, not for the first time, didn’t allow the advantage and awarded a free-kick on the edge of the area from which Rendell clipped the top of the bar.
Few chances came for either side after this although a rushed clearance by Niedzwiecki hit Alleyne and passed only just wide of the post with four minutes left on the clock.
With time running out Giambrone received a straight red-card for a very dangerous tackle on Gavin Lane and, while the City defender was receiving lengthy treatment, Chesham substitute Sam Byfield talked his way into a second yellow card and left the visitors to play out time with nine men.

FULL-TIME Oxford City 1-0 Chesham United.

City: Wilkins, Durrant(Capt.), Davis (Takriti 24), Lane, Avery, Griffin, Jones (Bell 45), Malone, Stewart (Alleyne 61), Chakaodza, Rendell.
Chesham: Niedzwiecki, Giambrone, Skinner (Hall 57), Abraham, Massey, Gross (Byfield 78), Maynard, Boateng (Chemlal 85), Burnell, Gray, Rice.