Salisbury 2-1 Chesham Utd

Oct 20 2010 By Greg Burns at Raymond McEnhill Stadium

IT WAS a night of incredible frustration for Chesham United after they crashed out of the FA Trophy at ten-man Salisbury.

The Generals had taken the lead at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium through Chris Elsegood on 15 minutes with the home side seeing striker Kyle McLaggon sent off a minute later.

But despite having a man advantage for 74 minutes, United could not break down a stubborn Whites side who won the game thanks to Mark Lambert own goal and counter-attack goal from Jake Reid.

Nothing could separate United and the Whites at The Meadow on Saturday with a replay needed to determine who would reach the FA Trophy second qualifying round.

But Chesham rode their luck at times in the first game and knew they faced a tough test against a side playing in the Conference last season and who reached the semi-finals of the competition last season.

That was reflected in Andy Leese's team which saw just one change with John Kyriacou replacing Sam Ledger in the Generals side.

Salisbury ended the weekend clash with a front-four and remarkably began the same with Christopher Giles, Bradley Gray, Reid and McLaggon forming a dangerous partnership when The Whites were in possession.

But Leese's side showed plenty of confidence and posed a real threat on the break with Steve Wales racing into the box and forcing a goal line clearance by Jamie Turley.

Their good start forced Salisbury back to a 4-4-2 formation as the Generals pressed.

And the took a deserved lead on 15 minutes when a quick-thinking free-kick from Wales released Elsegood and the defender showed composure to cut inside and smash the ball home.

Two minutes later Chesham were handed another advantage was McLaggon was shown a straight red card for an off the ball incident.

It was a bizarre decision which left the home bench and crowd fuming.

But it rallied ten-men Salisbury who were foiled by a superb save from Generals stopper Shane Gore.

The keeper could only spill a Ben Adelsbury shot into the path of Jake Reid but the striker saw his close range effort saved by the outstretched Gore.

Chesham were working hard and showing good nous to exploit the spaces in the Salisbury line-up and, in an enthralling first-half, either side could have scored the next goal.

Gray fired an effort straight at Gore for the home side as they were left to rely on long range efforts as Chesham looked to be heading into the break ahead.

But Lambert got his head onto a Darrell Clarke and sent it into his own net on 43 minutes to hand the Whites some extra incentive at the interval.

Salisbury soaked up lots of Chesham pressure and punished them on 62 minutes when Gray broke down the right hand side and crossed for Reid to volley in.

It was backs against the wall stuff for the home side as Chesham dominated possession but they could not find the cutting edge to break down the Whites despite Kyriacou screwing a shot wide and substitute Loren Maxwell glancing a header wide.

GENERALS: Gore, Elsegood, Lambert, Bartley (Sharp 58), Kyriacou, Talbot, Fotheringham, Gudgeon (Maxwell 68), Wales, Fanibuyan, Bangura (Marsala 77).

Subs (not used): Potton, Obeng.

Booked: Gudgeon (27 mins)

Att: 463

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