CHESHUNT 0 WALTHAM FOREST 1
Ryman League Division 1 North
Saturday 12th December 2009
A must win game for Cheshunt coming after successive losses where the Ambers had dominated play but failed to convert opportunities. The first half opened up fairly evenly with most of the play in the midfield areas and both sides failing to deliver the final pass to create clear chances. Paul Burton made his debut for Cheshunt in the centre of midfield and with Iain Salt was in the thick of the action. At the back Tom Tresadern dropped back into the full back position and Nick Mountford swapped sides to account for the absent Schillachi. Glen Parry partnered Darren Williams in the central positions and both were kept busy by the work rate of Danny Gabriel & Robert Carter up front for Waltham Forest. The first Ambers chance fell to Bradley Harrison as Dave Hicks unusually high up the pitch so early in a game squared low to the edge of the box, Harrison failed to connect this time as he was easily marked being the lone striker. Harrison turned provider in the next Ambers move as the pivot in a move with Chris Meikle, the latter’s known pace not enough however as Tanner in the Forest goal left his line early to beat him to the ball. Waltham Forest looked useful going forward and forced several corners, connecting with a header wide, and a second headed over the bar after an excellent block from Darren Williams as Gabriel looked to shoot conceded another corner. The spell of Forest pressure continued with Ben Yiadom going close with a shot , and a clever free kick 35 yards out pushed down the side of the Cheshunt wall on the inside right channel for Pedro Knight to run on to, Luke Dodd in the Cheshunt goal was alert and managed to push the ball out for another corner. The Ambers cleared easily but put themselves back under pressure as Meikle dribbled out of his own box with no one available to play the ball out with a pass. Cheshunt weathered the storm and looked to push Waltham Forest back; Harrison got plenty behind a 30yard shot, only to see it go over the bar when perhaps the better option would have been the pass as Meikle ran into wide open space on the right. Salt released Meikle on the wide right and he beat the Forest full back for pace in the next Cheshunt move. Meikle’s low cross from the goal line was cut out by the keeper at the near post just in front of Harrison. Tom Tresadern pushed forward from the left for a shot from distance, and was then called into action in defence putting in a solid tackle to stifle a Forest attack. The visitors finished the half with a flourish Yiadom & Gabriel both having shots as Cheshunt failed to clear properly. A free kick from the right aimed towards the penalty spot drew an excellent save from Luke Dodd as a header dropped low towards the bottom left corner of the Cheshunt goal.
Cheshunt opened up the second half shuffling the pack with Ryan Dear dropping into the middle of the defence, Glen Parry moving to left back & Tom Tresadern pushing into the midfield berth vacated by Boniek Forbes. Waltham Forest continued to look dangerous while Cheshunt had most of the possession. Pedro Knight glanced a header wide & Darren Williams had to be alert to block Peter Smith the Waltham Forest wide man as he cut inside towards goal. Cheshunt continued to work hard but lacked a cutting edge and didn’t look like scoring, this was very much apparent when Harrison the lone striker displayed good close control to slide between two defenders , round the keeper wide and square the ball to an empty penalty area. On seventy four minutes the inevitable happened, a Waltham Forest attack looked to have been repelled once more, but as the ball broke to the right a deep cross into the Cheshunt six yard box was met by Peter Smith, climbing higher than others with his run in, a firm downward header was on target and Cheshunt had fifteen minutes to rescue the game. Frankie Bellini replaced Paul Burton to give Cheshunt more presence up front and battled well, forcing the Forest defence to hurry. Alas time ran out for Cheshunt and unlike recent results where good performances have gone unrewarded this was a disappointing performance that got the result it deserved.
Cheshunt: Dodd, Mountford, Parry (C), Tresadern, Williams, Hicks, Meikle, Salt, Harrison, Burton(Bellini 74), Forbes (Dear 46) Subs not used Wattley, Dearie, Elliott.