WALTHAM ABBEY 2 CHESHUNT 0
Ryman League Division 1 North
Tuesday 23rd September 2008
Harry England reports...........
Expectations were high going into the game, with both clubs having large support for the local derby. Joe Taylor faced his former club Cheshunt for Abbey, and predictably kept a clean sheet.
The game failed to achieve any real rhythm throughout and it took ten minutes for the first chance to arrive. Abbey's Lee Sontag saw his looping header just tipped over by Harry Ricketts and the resulting corner was a deadly inswinger from James Elmes, which was also tipped over by Ricketts, who saw it late.
There were penalty appeals for Abbey not long later, as debutant Ollie Thorne appeared to handball, but the referee decided against the free-kick.
The Ambers' first chance came on thirteen minutes, but it proved to be an unlucky number, as Mervin Abraham headered Yohance Lewis' cross disappointingly wide. A deep George Chanda cross for Waltham Abbey looked dangerous in the sixteenth minute, although he saw it just dip over the crossbar.
Danny Bleach showed some superb touches to neatly round the Abbey defence, although Joe Taylor came out and scuppered the goalscoring opportunity but the visitors were looking shaky at the back and a number of errors allowed Abbey through on goal although neither forward had their shooting boots on, luckily.
The first goal didn't come until ten minute before the interval. Glen Parry superbly cleared Harry Elmes' header off the line but the ball came back into the area and Billy Holland leaped in with a header to put Abbey 1-0 up going into half-time. Moments before the whistle however, George Chanda made one of the greatest clearances ever seen, as he leapt across the goal to clear Ollie Thornton's effort with a diving header sparking applause from both sets of fans.
The second-half was a fairly dull encounter, with the introductions of Gavin Taylor, Daniel Bradford, and Samson Oki not enough to secure the Ambers any points.
Six seconds into the half, straight from kick-off, Billy Holland saw a hopeful effort dip just over the crossbar, a narrow escape from embarrassment for Cheshunt. The Ambers' best goal scoring opportunity came in the eighteenth minute of the second-half as Gary Schillachi superbly prodded the ball into the path of the frighteningly quick Ashley Taylor-Forbes. He hit a bullet across the face of goal, but no player was there to touch the ball home. Many will say that had that gone in it would have changed the game.
But it didn't, and Abbey put together a splendid move which was deserving of a goal, but didn’t get it. Harry Elmes broke down the left-flank, knocked it central to cousin James Elmes, who in turn sprayed it right for Billy Holland who hit agonisingly over.
The final goal of the game came ten minutes before the full-time whistle as Billy Holland doubled his tally. The Cheshunt defence stopped after a handball, but the referee correctly played the advantage, and Holland was there to slot the ball home in a 1-on-1.
Waltham Abbey: Taylor, Chanda, Webb, Bostock, White (c), Ayres, M Sontag, J Elmes, Holland, H Elmes (Sheehan 76'), L Sontag (Chipperfield 88')
Unused: Tilbrook, Collins, Bern
Cheshunt: Ricketts, Schillachi, Parry (Oki 80'), Thorne, Dobson, Harrison (Taylor 70'), Taylor-Forbes, Gradosielski, Bleach (Bradford 80'), Lewis, Abraham (c)
Unused: Scott, Judge
Attendance: 205
