By Pete Martin
A valiant effort from Salisbury was unable to spoil the title party as they went down to a 2-1 defeat away at newly crowned champions Chesham United. Brian Dutton made just 1 change to his side from Easter Monday’s win against Basingstoke; Charlie Gunson replacing Aaron Simpson.
The Whites made a bright start to the game and dominated the early possession. They got their first real sight of goal after 8 minutes when Josh Sommerton’s long diagonal ball was only half cleared to Noah Coppin on the edge of the area, however, the young attacker put his shot inches wide of the post. 2 minutes later, with what was their first attack of the game, the home side took the lead. Alex Lafleur got away down the left hand side and his low ball across was bundled in by Bradley Clayton at the near post under pressure from the White’s defence. Salisbury heads didn’t drop after going behind and they continued to see the lion’s share of the possession; home keeper Zaki Oualah however not really tested. On 23 minutes Josh Hedges saw a deflected effort go wide from the edge of the box, whilst on 37 minutes Salisbury’s closest effort of the half saw Gunson fizz a left foot effort narrowly wide of the post with Oualah well beaten and, despite dominating the play, the Whites went in at half time behind in the game.
The pattern of the opening half was repeated in the 2nd as Salisbury started brightly. Despite that, Chesham gave a reminder of their danger on 51 minutes when Lafleur found space in the left hand side of the box before drilling a low shot which Ryan Gosney had to be strong to beat away. The central midfield of Salisbury were dominating the game and on 54 minutes Ryan Penny fed Hedges on the right hand side and his ball to the edge of the box saw Gunson curl the ball narrowly wide for the 2nd time in the match. Shortly before the hour mark, 2 dangerous balls in from the Salisbury right hand side saw no one able to get on the end of them before on 61 minutes Hedges flick saw Coppin in behind the defence and when he pulled it back to the edge of the area, Aaron McCreadie’s scuffed shot was blocked by the Chesham defence.
2 minutes later though Salisbury had a deserved equaliser; Coppin showing quick feet inside the box before he was tripped from behind with referee Joe Woolmer showing no hesitation in pointing to the spot. The Whites’ top scorer picked himself up and slotted the penalty home into the top corner to restore parity to the game. The away side continued to push and on 68 minutes Dan Fitchett’s flick saw Coppin in on goal in the right hand channel; Oualah however got down well to parry his low shot across goal. On 70 minutes Penny put a shot high over the bar before 4 minutes later Chesham re-took the lead. A quick break down the left saw Lafleur break into the box and slot a low shot past Gosney from a fine angle. The Whites continued to battle to find another equaliser but, despite seeing plenty of the ball, they couldn’t conjure anything to test Oualah; Aaron McCreadie shooting high and wide before substitute Wayne Robinson did likewise and Chesham were able to see the game out and secure all 3 points.
The Whites are scheduled to be in action again on Thursday 11th April, travelling to play Plymouth Parkway in a 7:45 pm kick off.
Team: Gosney, Leggett, Ball, Sommerton, McIntyre(Smith), Gunson(Robinson), McCreadie, Penny, Hedges, Coppin, Fitchett Unused Subs: Rutter, Perez, Jombati
