By Pete Martin and all images by Roger Elliott
An injury time goal denied Salisbury a well-deserved point at home to high-flying Chesham United. There were 3 changes to the Salisbury side; Dinesh Gillela, Jerry Lawerence and new signing Lucas Tomlinson coming in, with Callum Rowe, Sam Ashton and Josh Wakefield the players to miss out.
It was the Whites who got off to a fast start and they took the lead after just 6 minutes. A free kick into the box fell to Dan Fitchett but his shot from an angle was blocked behind for a corner, which new man Tomlinson swung deep to the area with Calvin Brooks arriving perfectly to tap the ball in from close range. Chesham responded and 8 minutes later they were level as Jordan Gibbons fired home a cracking long-range effort after Seokjae Lee had misplaced a pass. The game settled down with plenty of stoppages for niggly fouls and neither side able to find much in the way of fluency. After 23 minutes Tobias Braney was lucky not to see a red card for his lunge on Gillela, with most of the crowd of the opinion that it was 2-footed and off the ground, referee Said Ouchene however saw it as only a yellow card tackle. There was just one more goal chance in the half, Seung Yang heading straight at Chesham keeper Samuel Beasant from Lee’s cross in but both sides would have gone into half time feeling good about their chances.
The pattern of the game continued in the 2nd half, with very few chances for either side and a very stop-start game. Chesham had a decent chance on the hour mark when Steve Brown headed the ball back across but Braney could only screw his shot well wide when in plenty of space. At the other end of the pitch, there was plenty of running and effort from The Whites but they were unable to find the right final ball to really test Beasant. It took until 84 minutes into the half for Salisbury to really create a chance but substitute Ben Thomson was unable to get his header on target following Tomlinson’s dangerous ball in from the left. Just as it looked like the game would finish all square Chesham won a corner on the right and when Frankie Sutherland swung the ball in, Brown rose highest to power the header home and break Salisbury hearts.
The Whites will look to bounce back next Saturday when they welcome Yate Town to the Ray Mac for a 3 pm kick-off.
Team: Benfield, Brooks C, Sommerton, Roberts, Gillela, Carmichael, Yang, Lawrence, Lee(Ashton), Tomlinson(Arnold), Fitchett(Thomson)
Unused Subs: Gunstone-Gray, Wakefield.
